Spark to a Flame
by assantra
Summary: My version of Season 5. When Stiles is left alone for most of the summer, he decides to make his own fun. Which leads to its own set of consequences and adventures. Very, very slow burn Sterek. Slash. Don't like, don't read.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N~ My version of Season 5, even though it hasn't happened yet. Very, very slow burn Sterek. Pretty much everyone but Stiles, Lydia and Parrish have left town for the summer. Stiles decides to make his own fun. Which has its own set of consequences. Don't like slash, don't read. ~A**

**Spark to a Flame**

**Chapter 1**

Stiles is sitting on the floor in his room, surrounded by papers and books. For the past several minutes he has been playing wall ball with himself, to say the teen was bored would probably be an insult to boredom.

His phone starts buzzing on his nightstand and he nearly brains himself with the ball, when he misses it trying to scramble for the phone. He looks at the screen quickly before answering, "Hey Lydia, what's up?"

"Stiles," replied the strawberry blond, already sounding annoyed, "I am not having any luck finding out what Jordan is in the bestiary. I was wondering if you had found anything."

"Narrowed it down to about five things," said Stiles going back into his funk when he heard what his supposed friend was asking. Not really surprised though. Lydia and Deputy Parrish had started dating shortly after they had arrived home from Mexico. They were serious enough that the strawberry blond had decided to throw the older man a surprise birthday party.

"Stiles his birthday is in four days," Lydia said impatiently, "aren't there some tests we can run or something?"

"Yeah sure," Stiles said with his own brand of snark, "If he doesn't mind losing an appendage of his choice or giving a few quarts of blood."

"Lydia it's like Derek said, your boyfriend is a little out of our area of expertise." he said, glancing at the list of possibilities, he had narrowed down for the deputy, "Usually we're more interested in how to defend against other things or possibly kill them. Not identifying them for identity's sake."

"Gee thanks Stiles," Ms. Martin said, and Stiles could mentally see her checking her fingernails, "I was hoping to have this done for him by his birthday."

The teen just barely held in the snaky comment that maybe Lydia should have actually been here helping Stiles do the research instead of leaving it for Stiles to do and then taking credit for it at the birthday party as he suspected she planned to do. "Hey, I've even tried to contact Chris Argent to see if he might have some insights into the deputy's supernatural heritage and I still haven't heard back from him. So you're stuck with me."

As soon as they were done with Lydia telling the teen to hurry up and finish the research, she hung up the phone. Stiles went back to being bored.

Normally he might hang out with some members of the lacrosse team, unfortunately all of them were gone. The Coach had arranged a lacrosse camp in Seattle, Washington. So Scott, Kira, Liam, and Mason were all in Seattle and just to make things more annoying, the coach had banned all electronics. No communication except through the pay phone near camp. Needless to say the players usually kept those phone calls for their family members. Stiles didn't begrudge them that, but a message or two through the parents would have been nice.

Stiles would have liked to have gone to the camp, if only to spend time with his friends. Unfortunately due to the added financial strain on his father, he hadn't been able to attend the camp. His father was still receiving therapy for the gun shot wound he had received from Deputy Haigh, so the bills were still piling up. Stiles had searched desperately for a job every day, only to discover that there were no jobs in their small town.

On top of the rehabilitation, his father against doctors orders of course was once again taking extra shifts at the Sheriff's station to try and cover the bills. Stiles was frustrated and upset that when his father should have been resting and recuperating from his injury he was actually working harder than ever. The only positive was that Agent McCall had been able to quash the investigation into the Beacon Hills Sheriff's Department.

Derek and Braeden were AWOL, neither of the two had been seen by their group since Mexico. Lydia of course put the romantic spin on it had said they were probably just shacked up somewhere having a romantic interlude. Shacked up was Stiles wording, romantic interlude was Lydia's.

Peter was still residing in Eichen House and they had probably thrown away the key. Malia had visited her father twice, with Stiles in tow of course. At first it had just been Peter and Malia doing the talking. Well mostly Peter apologizing again and Malia listening or maybe not because after the second time, she informed Stiles she was going to hang out in the woods for a while.

Stiles wasn't foolish enough to think that she meant camping. He saw her a few times in her coyote form hanging out around the edge of the woods. She would ignore him when he called out to her, Stiles just hoped she would come back on her own before school started.

On the usual visitation day he went to Eichen House voluntarily and by himself. Something he had promised himself he would never do again. He figured that even Peter deserved to know that apparently his daughter wasn't planning to come back and visit her father. Rather than possibly sitting in the vain hope that she would be coming to visit.

It was as he was sitting in the visitation room waiting for the elder Hale, He decided rather impulsively to continue to visit. He remembered what it was like to sit in this dismal place waiting for someone, anyone to come visit.

Stiles saw Peter's expression fall when he saw Stiles sitting alone at the table waiting for the former werewolf to come through for the visit. "Hey Creeper," the teen's jibe sounded lame even to his own ears.

The wolfs smirk didn't reach his eyes as he replied, "I take it my paternal dues are considered paid and she sent you to let me know?"

As much as he tried to hide it even Stiles heard the grief in the elder Hale's voice, "She didn't send me no, but she's decided to spend the rest of summer getting back to nature so to speak," he said as he looked around at the several orderlies moving between the visitation tables.

"Sort of figured it might be something like that," Peter said as he started to rise. "Thank you for letting me know Stiles. You are an exceptional human being," and then he leaned forward and whispered, "You would have made an even better wolf though."

"You don't have to leave, you know?" Stiles said quickly. "I thought you might like to talk or something. Unless you have something more pressing to do?"

Peter Hale was startled, that much was shown on his face before he regained his composure and his face smoothed out into its usual bland expression. "Well this is Arts and Crafts hour, but a little stimulating conversation does sound infinitely more entertaining than putting foam and paper flowers into little plastic jug baskets." The former were said as he sat back down at the table.

His movements drew the attention of one of the guards and Peter lowered his head submissively. Stiles however gave the hulky orderly a steady gaze, he only smirked to himself when the other man looked away deferentially. The pair had talked about TV, (Peter hated reality TV, but loved the forensic based cop shows). Stiles told him about trying to discover what type of supernatural creature Parrish might be. Peter suggested a few reference materials he might try. Favorite foods, curly fries, pizza, and Twizzlers for Stiles, Peter preferred Reese cups, venison steaks, and a particularly good curry.

Stiles of course also used the time during these meetings to pick the Omega's brain The golden wolfs bane had taken the wolves power but it was possible that at some time his powers would come back. Even if they didn't though Stiles and Peter both knew his station in the pack hierarchy was changed. He would be lucky if he would still be considered a member of the Hale/McCall Pack if he managed to ever get out of Eichen House.

Stiles asked him questions about pack hierarchy and rituals, Extracted information on creatures that weren't even in the bestiary. He also began creating his own Bestiary, computerized of course, from information he had gotten from the Argent Bestiary and from Peter and other sources.

Truthfully though their interactions were mostly friendly with a little "business" mixed in. It was several visits later that Peter explained to Stiles, I knew that you and Malia weren't going to last long."

"When Stiles had widened his eyes in shock and started to stutter a response, the Creeper wolf raised his hands in a pacifying gesture and said, "Not your fault, I know. Let me just say, I've known you were bi for a while, my boy. It's fine, wolves don't judge unless they were born during a more strict time period and then we usually grow out of being a prude fairly soon."

He pretended to be divulging a great secret behind his hand as he continued, "Don't let the human historians fool you. Truth is the werewolves were the original hippies," he said with a smirk. He raised the King-sized Reese's cups and the book of Wordsworth poetry, "With a few notable exceptions we were very much their predecessors."

"Except of course we had better taste, we were better read, and had much better hygiene." he said with a smirk, adding, "Fleas as a wolf is one thing, while in your human form is another matter entirely."

Stiles had laughed so hard his ribs ached and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He had ended up leaning on his elbows on the table while several of the orderlies were staring at the table warningly but the boy ignored their gazes, Peter leaned forward from his relaxed sprawl as the boys laughter was finally winding down and said, "So Stiles, how long have you known you had a crush on my nephew?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N~ Thank you to everyone who faved, followed and reviewed. Your all incredible and I hope you keep it up. You have no idea how encouraging it is. Or maybe you do as here is the second chapter already. Still pretty much Stiles centric here. Enjoy! ~A**

**Spark to a Flame-Chapter 2 **

"I don't like it, Stiles. He has already tried to kill several of your friends on a number of occasions. I don't understand why you're visiting him." John Stillinski said as he pulled his holster on.

"I do it because I think it's what Malia would want," Stiles lied before continuing with the rest of his reasoning, "He is her father after all. I do it because he has a lot of knowledge that we will probably need at some point. Especially if things keep going the way they are,"

"You know something I don't?" the Sheriff asked suspiciously.

"What? No dad," Stiles said with a hint of exasperation, "I'm just saying things have been popping up around here faster than popcorn in a microwave. If things keep going the way they are, we'll have gone through the Argents bestiary and then some before we graduate."

"God, I forgot for a second this is your senior year," his dad said while rubbing his jaw tiredly with his palm, flinching subtly at the pull in the still healing muscle.

Stiles gave a wan smile as he knew his father was imagining the additional expense of senior year not to mention the potential of college. They both pretended it didn't matter as Stiles continued, "Plus, I remember what it's like to be locked up in that place. You feel like you're all alone, even if you're not. That nobody cares, even if they do. You're afraid you might hurt somebody even if it's just yourself…Other things. I swore I would never let anyone I knew, feel like that ever." He looked up at his father and said, "I don't care if it is Peter fracking Hale." he said with a twist of his lips.

John looked down with a twist of his own lips as he said with a sigh, "Alright son, alright. Listen I have to work a long shift this evening. Won't be home until tomorrow afternoon. So don't worry about dinner for me, okay?" Father and son hugged and the Sheriff left soon afterwards.

**~X~**

The woman followed the driver off of the bus. She was the only one getting off at Beacon Hills. The heat of the afternoon sun was surprisingly mild for the middle of summer in California. For which both driver and passenger were grateful, as the driver struggled to get her two bags out of the luggage hold of the bus.

Finally he managed to get the blue bag and the larger red bag out of the bin and handed them over to the brunette. He tipped his hat politely and said, "Ma'am."

Before climbing back into the bus to wait, some of the other passengers had gotten off to take a bathroom break or stretch their legs.

The woman walked inside and went to the information counter, "Good morning," she said to the woman behind the counter, "Do you have a map of the area?"

"Of course," said the woman reaching over to a small stand of maps next to her. Pulling one out she opened it and said, as she put a red dot on a corner, "this is where we are right now."

The brunette pulled out a couple of business cards and between the two of them found the places on the map. The helpful clerk received a thank you and a smile and promptly forgot the woman she had just been helping.

The woman walked into a hotel three blocks from the bus station. She checked in and dropped off her duffle bags and putting up the do not disturb sign. She sketched a design in the air in front of the doorknob.

Then hitched her purse up on her shoulder, she walked five more blocks to reach a real estate agents office. She walked in and two hours later walked back out with the head agent who helped her into his car before walking to the other side quickly and sliding in behind the wheel.

The pair drove to the courthouse and treating her like she was either the golden goose or made of spun glass, the realtor walked her into the courthouse. An hour later the realtor drove her back to his office, they shook hands and then as if she had just thought of it she turned back and asked him for a list of rentals.

The balding man ducked into his office and came back with a sheet of addresses for the brunette. Then for good measure he shook her hand again and said, "Thank you for your business Ms. Spenser."

"Thank you Mr. Lewis, have a good weekend." she said before turning and walking back to the hotel. The woman looked around and made a different symbol in front of the door and unlocked the door before stepping inside.

**~X~**

Stiles had found a bottle of Jack Daniels that his father had stashed in the dining room. The teen had decided to take the alcohol and go do something he hadn't really done since before all of this started. Get drunk.

He put the alcohol in his book bag along with a sleeping bag and a couple of sandwiches, a bag of chips and a couple of bottles of water. He got in his Baby and headed into the woods. He wasn't too ashamed to say that he was hiding from his dad and his deputies as he took the back roads to the Preserve.

He drove about halfway up the old rutted road that led to what had once been the Hale House. Then got out and hiked the rest of the way to the Nemeton. He laid out his sleeping bag and supplies and flopped down beside the tree.

"Well Nemee it's just you and me, I guess." Stiles said as he took a swig of the fiery liquid. He remembered the last time he was here. Shortly after everything had pretty much gone to hell.

He thought about everything that had happened since then. Scott had been bitten by Peter. Derek had bitten Isaac, Erica, and Boyd. Killing Peter, and then there was the Kanima, and Jackson becoming part of the Pack for a hot second before heading off to London. Getting beat up by Grandpa Argent oh yeah lets not forget that. Lydia becoming an unofficial part of the Pack.

The Alpha Pack killing Erica and Boyd The Darach and Scott becoming an Alpha,. Being possessed by the Nogitsune, yeah that one definitely deserved two swallows of the whiskey. Allison and Aiden dying and once again two more swallows. This time though the burning in his gut wasn't just from the whiskey.

He had heard all the platitudes about it not being him. That it wasn't him, but at least in part it was. He was in the Nogitsune as much as it was in him and he still wondered if he had been stronger maybe he could have controlled it. Maybe he could have prevented their deaths.

Scott, Derek, even his dad. thought he was getting over it. He wasn't getting over it, he was just getting better at acting. He was getting better at acting like the deaths didn't bother him. That losing people he cared about didn't bother him. That people leaving didn't bother him. The fact that people only wanted him around for research or strategy sessions.

That it didn't bother him that Jackson and Isaac left. Ethan had left to, and while it didn't bother him as much as the others. It had bothered Danny. Danny who he had confided in about thinking he might be bi. The fellow lacrosse player had confessed to Stiles that he thought he might have made a mistake in letting the former Alpha werewolf leave. Shortly after that Danny had disappeared and Stiles had missed the other teen but was also happy that his friend had been brave enough to go after what he wanted.

"Unlike me the pasty faced skin and bone coward. Who can't even go after the guy…wolf that he wants. Even if I did get the balls," he said laughing as angry tears streamed down his face, "someone or something always happens." Stiles says as he runs his fingers along the textured surface of the top of one of the roots of the tree.

He sighs as he puts the still open bottle down beside him among the roots of the tree. Leaning back against the side of the tree he whispers. "Wishes are a waste of time."

"No they're not," said a voice out of the darkness. Stiles looked blearily over at the edge of the moonlit woods where the voice had come from. A woman with brown wavy hair, was walking out of the woods toward him. The moonlight streaked her hair as she made her way across the clearing toward him.

"Whaa.." yeah and now was when the alcohol kicked in. When the strange woman came out of the woods. Life and the horror movies taught him that this was when he probably got eaten and not in a good way. For some reason the panic, the fight or flight…okay mostly flight instinct that had served him well over the years didn't kick in.

"You said, "wishes are a waste of time/" But they're not, not always. You just have to know when to make the wish." she said with a smile. Then spying the whiskey bottle among the roots of the tree, she smiled even bigger showing teeth this time. No fangs just normal every day teeth as she said, "You brought gifts," and took her own swallow of the whiskey and coughed and sputtered and said, "Oh yeah smooth."

Stiles laughed, he couldn't help it. He liked this strange woman. "I'm Mary by the way,"

"Stiles," he replied automatically, then said, "Isn't that kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"Oh you are very clever even when your three sheets to the wind," then she looked at the bottle and said, "or is it four?"

"Prob"ly three and a half," the teen slurred a little.

She laughed again and he smiled at the husky sound of it. Then he heard the sound of liquid pouring out on the ground and saw her pouring some of the Jack Daniels on the roots of the tree.

Stiles tried to reach for the bottle and missed as he cried, "Hey don't waste it."

"Not wasting, sharing, you've been sharing secrets with my old friend here. I figured it was only right that you shared the libations too, right." Mary said indicating over his shoulder with her chin.

Stiles tried to look over his shoulder to see who she was talking about, but all he could see was the Nemeton. He said getting back to the previous conversation, Nope," popping the p, "my wishes never come true. I wished my Mom would get better, she died. I wished for something interesting to happen, my friend got bit… got into trouble. I wished people would be safe and they died. See I'm bad luck." he said, with a morose little bark of a laugh.

"Then I'd say, that your lucks about to change, Stiles." Mary said, as she put the cap back on the bottle of amber colored liquid and held it up by his face for a moment. Seeming to compare the color of the liquid with the color of his eyes.

"What? Why?" Stiles said in confusion as the woman tucked the bottle back among the roots.

She smiled and stroked her finger down his nose and said, "Because the Nemeton likes you of course."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Stiles squinted his eyes open, then slammed them closed again as he realized he wasn't in his own room. Plus if the large jagged dagger slamming through his head repeatedly was any indication, he was severely hung-over. The sunlight coming through the blinds on the window didn't help.

He inched his way across the bed so that he was at least out of the blinding sunlight before he tried to sit up and that was done in increments. His mouth felt like a heavy wool sock complete with the dead sheep still attached.

He turned to face away from the window and saw a glass of water with a folded piece of paper leaned against it. Setting that as his goal, the teen did an incredibly slow shimmy to sit up beside the nightstand. Finally with a long drawn out pitiful sounding groan. He Pulled the note toward him. That's when he uncovered a baggie that included several toiletries and a tube of pain killers.

The note read, _"Stiles,_

_Take the pain killers, drink all of the water and take a long hot shower and then a short cold one. It will help. By the time you get out I should have some breakfast and clean clothes for you. _

_Be careful kiddo. Back soon, _

_Mary."_

Stiles flipped the covers back and discovered he was only wearing his boxers. Just like that Stiles went into serial killer mode, anyone this nice to a strange teenager had to be a serial killer. He started to stand up concerned that Mary would be back at any minute with a fire axe from down the hall. When he really should have been more concerned with the demonic dwarves and their pickaxes as they were digging for light in various areas of his brain.

He breathed through his teeth for a minute before taking the tube of pain killers and shaking two out into his palm. He popped them into his mouth and swallowed half the glass in almost one swallow. He paused for just a second as his stomach protested at the addition of anything.

Waiting a couple of minutes longer for his stomach to settle, the teen looked around the hotel room for his missing clothes. After he checked all of the drawers and the closet in the small hotel room for any sign of his missing clothes. His shoes sat on the floor at the foot of the bed, no socks in sight.

His belt and the contents of his pockets sat on the dresser, the contents of his wallet were all still there. Including the XXL condom he kept tucked under the picture section of his wallet. Not that he missed it at all right now but the remainder of the bottle of Jack was missing, even though he didn't remember finishing the amber colored liquid off last night.

Finally smelling his own armpit and his own breath Stiles decided despite his innate paranoia that there was a very real reason to take the recommended shower. So grabbing the small bag of toiletries and the surprisingly large and thick bath sheet laid out on the foot of the bed he went into the bathroom.

**~X~**

He had just finished up and was coming out of the bathroom with the bath sheet toweling his hair dry when he realized Mary was back and setting things out on the table. She turned to him and the streak of her hair that he had thought was moonlight was actually a streak of gray.

"Ah just in time, good." she said picking up a bag of clothes off the foot of the other bed and handing it to him. "I went by the sizes and style of your own clothes, so they should fit fairly well. Breakfast can wait a bit while you get dressed," she said shooing him back in the direction of the bathroom.

Nodding Stiles held onto the bath sheet with one hand and the bag of clothes with the other as he said, " Yeah, I'm just going to …" he said sheepishly, indicating the bathroom. The woman just smiled benignly as the teen ducked into the bathroom. Feeling brave Stiles left the door open just a crack so he could ask, "Where are my clothes?"

"Your others are at the hotel laundry, I'm having them done and they'll deliver them to the room later. Despite the excellence of your fake ID. I really find it hard to believe that you're 32. So you smelling like you spilled more of the Jack than you drank, probably wouldn't have gone over well."

"Yeah, no probably not." Stiles said, blushing to his ear tips despite the fact she couldn't see him. As he proceeded to drop the bath sheet and get dressed.

"So Stiles how well do you know the local area?" she called through the door.

His response was muffled as he was struggling to get the t-shirt over his head. After another minute he came out of the bathroom still barefooted. He sat on the foot of the bed to put on socks and his trainers, when he saw her still curious expression he realized she hadn't heard him and repeated, "I've lived here for as long as I can remember, why?" He said as he finished tying his shoes.

Mary indicated the food she had set out on the table and said, "Shall we?" Stiles would have been proud to say he didn't rush the table to stuff his face and suddenly growling stomach, if it were true. Unfortunately, his mother would have been embarrassed at his sudden lack of table manners.

Mary only laughed and said, "Greasy food and coffee are great follow ups to an after binge hangover"

The teen merely shrugged as he consumed four breakfast biscuits, a pile of hash browns, all the bacon, and two hearty slices of French toast. While sipping the second cup of rich smelling coffee.

"Ah to have that metabolism again," the older woman sitting beside him at the little dining table in the room said, with a little smirk. "Is your name really Stiles Stillinski?"

"Yeah well, nickname really. My real name is a state secret" he said the blush tingeing his ears again.

"That's good actually. Keeping your name a secret is good. Names have power you know." she said wisely. "You seem fairly intelligent Stiles. So can I ask why you were in the woods alone, getting bombed in the middle of the night?"

He shrugged again using a fork to make patterns in the syrup left on his plate from the French toast as he said, "Oh you know, bored, frustrated…"

"Feeling sorry for yourself…" Mary supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, maybe," Stiles said dropping the fork as he finally worked up the courage to stare the woman in the eyes.

Mary nodded and said, "Well I don't know about the frustrated part and I'm not going to pry. You can tell me when you want to, but I think I can help with the boredom part, and you can make a little money as well."

The suspicion was back and the teens eyes and rather than being sorry to see it Mary was glad. It meant that despite the events of the previous evening the boy had a healthy survival instinct.

"I need an assistant, I'm offering you the position." her smile turned into a smirk as she added, "I promise I can make your employment package a competitive one. Just one thing. How in the know are you about the supernatural?"

Stiles eyes went wide, his pupils blown in panic, before he managed to squeak out, "Oh, I love that show."

"Good comeback," she nodded her head in approval, "You hesitated just a second too long though. Don't worry, whoever it is you know, I mean them no harm." she said mildly.

"You however, are another matter entirely. Stiles has anyone ever referred to you as a Spark?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N~ This is still mostly Stiles-centric. As in mostly from his point of view or with him being in the point of view. Love all the positive feedback and wanted to thank everyone for that and please keep it up. I love all feedback. Again this is slow-burn Sterek. So if you don't like, well you still have a ways to go but it is coming. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy. ~A**

**Chapter 4**

The teen actually stuttered this time and the woman snorted as he tried to choke down a swallow of the cooling coffee. "Stiles, relax. Breathe for heavens sake. I'm guessing yes, and I'm guessing from your reaction that it might have made you a target in the past. Either that or the fact that you have supernatural friends may have done so. One or both." she said with a gentle smile.

She waited for a but for him to calm down, hoping he wouldn't bolt from the room in a panic. When he settled, which actually took several minutes as he seemed to talk himself down from a straight up panic attack, before he spoke, "Actually, no. I mean yes I was told what it was but they told me I wasn't a Spark. That I was just a regular human. I can barely put down a line of mountain ash."

"Who told you that?" she demanded incredulously. The boy didn't answer, so she said with a gentle smile. "Let me see your hand for a minute."

She offered her own hand for him to put his hand in. With a clearly suspicious look, the teen cleaned his fingers on a paper napkin and extended his left hand, palm up to her.

She studied his palm intently for several minutes. Her fingers stroked over his palm and his fingers thoughtfully. "Hm you have a very powerful spark but it seems to be blocked or…bound maybe. Let's see. Powerful spirit, which they couldn't bind. Excellent air and water too although you've never actively used them. Fire and earth need a lot of work though."

Then she took his hand in hers and said, "Close your eyes, Stiles." He did so reluctantly and she said, "Think of your friends, your family. People you've loved, cared about, people you've lost. Think about how much you care about them, love them. How much you want to protect them from every threat and harm you've ever faced," her voice was soothing and hypnotic. She drew her hand away from his and then said, "Open your eyes Stiles."

Her smile grew wider as she saw his eyes flame and then go solid black. "Beautiful," and then indicated he should look at his palm. The teen did and jumped slightly. Floating about an inch above his palm was a ball of pale pink energy about three inches across. Lights and traces of current leapt and danced throughout the little ball as it floated there. Electric blue, golden yellow, and in smaller degrees neon red and vibrant green. Plasma white and purple mixed with traces of black.

"You're doing this," Stiles said breathlessly.

"Nope, that's all you kiddo…and that's you untrained and partially bound." She said putting her chin in her palm as she gazed at him instead of the little ball of energy and she added, "Imagine yourself unbound and with training."

He started to raise his now trembling hands to his face and then looked at her sheepishly as the orb of energy remained and asked, "Uhm, how do I…"

She closed her fist and flicked her wrist to demonstrate and watched as the young man mimicked her movements with surprising grace. Dispelling the orb on the first try.

She clapped her hands a couple of times in approval, "A natural talent, wonderful. I sensed that someone else has assessed you and gave you just enough instruction to get you in trouble or worse get you killed. When I meet them they will find themselves on the wrong side of my sharp tongue and be blessed if a good tongue lashing is all I give them." she said determinedly and gave a single sharp nod.

"Now as I said, besides being my assistant, I want you to be my apprentice. I'm going to teach you to use and develop your spark so that you can protect yourself and the people you care about. Maybe even fight beside' them when the time comes. Would that be of some interest to you, Mr. Stillinski?"

Stiles whiskey colored eyes lit up and then dimmed as he asked, "This isn't going to be some kind of deal with the devil type situation is it?"

She actually laughed and said, "I'm not that old young man…no. No soul stealing, life sucking or anything like that."

"We're going to start with an unbinding ritual before we get into much more. Before we start this though I don't want you to miss out on time with your friends and family." she said firmly, "I want you to be as much a regular teenager as is possible around here."

"That's not going to be a problem right now," Stiles replied a little morosely, "All of my friends are gone or otherwise occupied for the summer. My dad is the Sheriff and working way to hard this summer."

"Well that's good for the training but I'm sorry you're not able to spend time with them." She said solemnly, "When school starts, school work and activities come before training, but you will train Stiles and probably hate me for how hard you work."

The boy nodded eagerly as he finished eating. "Now what about this job? I need to find out what I'm going to be doing for you." he said as he glanced over at her. His eyes fell on the newspaper she had brought in this morning. His eyes skimmed over the paper and then he pulled it closer.

"Well can you drive?" Mary asked. The boy nodded his head absently as he studied the paper.

"You know the town and the people in it, that in itself will be a great help to me." she continued, "I'll also pay you well for your time." Noticing he still didn't seem to be paying much attention to her especially considering he was the one who had asked for the information. She asked, "Is something wrong? You seem a little distracted."

Without a word the younger man turned the newspaper so she could see the headline.

"_**Dismembered Body Found in Hill Pointe Area"**_

"Yeah so the unbinding right now and class to start as soon as possible." she said, sighing she added, "Looks as if I've arrived just in time."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N~ Thank you for all the reviews and attention. I truly appreciate it and hope that you continue to enjoy the story. ~A**

**Chapter 5**

It was still mid-morning when they headed back to the Preserve to pick up Stile's Jeep. Then he drove them to the Sheriff's station by way of his Dad's favorite greasy spoon, emphasis on _greasy._

Stiles ordered his dad's favorite take out meal, and they ordered some iced tea before sitting down to enjoy the relative coolness of the air conditioning while waiting for the food to be prepared. Stiles explained what he called his plan of attack.

"So I've had my dad on a diet to keep him healthy. Cause he's my dad you know, I want to keep him around." the young man explained as they sat together and Mary saw the hint of fear in Stiles eyes and recognized a child afraid of losing both parents, "Sometimes I do let him splurge, you know for holidays, his birthday, that sort of thing. Just not often."

"So the country fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried onion rings and lemon cake are basically a version of culinary bribery to get him to agree to letting me hire you and train you, I take it?" Mary asked with a smirk on her face.

Stiles got a serious kind of embarrassed look on his face, "It sounds really bad when you say it like that."

"No, not bad, a little devious maybe, but not bad."

He gave a little embarrassed laugh and said, "I'm not sure my dad is gonna agree with you on that."

"Maybe not but I'm pretty sure he'll appreciate the effort," as the waitress placed the delicious smelling take out bag in front of them she added, "Matter of fact I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy it immensely."

The pair laugh together as they finished their tea and leave a tip on the table before heading out to Stiles Jeep. As he's getting into the Jeep Stiles receives a text from Lydia asking if he's made any progress on the search for Parrish's identity.

The teen huffs in exasperation as he slams the door to his baby a little harder than he intended. "Something wrong?" Mary asks at the sudden change in the teens mood.

"I have this friend Lydia, she's a Banshee. Don't tell her I told you." he added, "Anyway she has a supernatural boyfriend, who doesn't know what kind of supernatural he is. She wanted me to find out for his birthday, I've managed to narrow it down but not as much as I would like." the young man said as he pulled out of the small parking lot and made his way to the Sheriff's station.

"Does he not have any family who could help him find out?" Mary asked as Stiles took a turn carefully, trying not to jostle his dads food and iced tea too much.

"No from what he says, he's an orphan and apparently wasn't old enough when they died to be told about a family history of…super-naturalness?"

They arrive at the station and actually run into Parrish on the way to the Sheriff's station and he tells them, "Sorry Stiles the Sheriff is out on a call right now but you can wait in his office if you want," he offered.

Parrish follows them into the Sheriffs office, Stiles places his phone on the edge of his fathers desk as he moves around the precariously stacked files that cover the surface of the desk. Reaching the one clear spot on his fathers desk he begins to set out the contents of the take out bag.

When once again his phone starts vibrating to let him know he was getting another text. The phone actually vibrates itself right off the desk. Parrish reaches down to pick the phone up and seeing the screen asks, "Why's Lydia calling you, Stiles?"

Stiles knows but figuring the whole thing is a secret flounders for a believable lie. The deputy seeing the boys distress decides to set his mind at ease and says, "Stiles, its okay, I know."

Stiles shakes his head in shock and confusion and replies, "She told you I was looking up what you are?"

"What…no I was talking about the surprise party… Have you figured it out yet?" the deputy asked.

"No…not yet. there are tests we can try, but they involve uh some dismemberment." the teen said with a decided squeamish air. The deputy's face fell.

"Stiles you could try the other thing that we were talking about." Mary suggested. Parrish and Stiles both looked over at her as if they only just remembered that she was still in the office.

"What? I'm sorry who are you again?" Parrish asked as he glanced around nervously.

Stiles said, "This is Mary. She's in the know about the supernatural and," looking over at Mary doubtfully he asked, "Are you sure I can do this?"

"What are we talking about?" Parrish asked looking between the two.

"There might be a way that we can find out what you are without chopping anything off." she offered helpfully.

"So why doesn't Stiles look happy about it?" asked the deputy worriedly.

"Stiles is nervous and he's never tried this before." she replied honesty and then added, "Personally I thought you'd be more thrilled about the no dismembering needed part of it."

Parrish merely shrugged as Mary closed the door to the tiny office, "Yeah well you burn to a cinder and then come back to life fully formed it kind of makes you a little blasé' about bits and pieces being chopped off."

Stiles came from around he desk with a nervous breath and asked, "What do I do?"

"Take his hand. You can make it like a handshake if you want," Mary offered helpfully. The two men clasped hands firmly and she continued, "Now Stiles close your eyes and relax. You are in a pitch black room, no light coming from anywhere. You know you are safe. Parrish is there with you, you can feel him there. Its safe."

"Be careful now keep your eyes closed, cause the lights about to come on and its going to be very bright. When the light comes on we're going to do a three count so your eyes can adjust to the bright light. You're going to look at Parrish deeply and tell me what you see." Mary asked, "Ready? Okay, 1...2...3...and open your eyes."

Stiles opens his eyes and is studying Parrish deeply. "Huh…," he said thoughtfully, "oh wow…whoa." With that he drops the deputies hand and jumps back knocking a couple of files off the Sheriffs crowded desk

Ignoring the files Mary steps forward to grasp the teens arm supportively and asked, "What did you see Stiles?"

"There was this thing… kind of smallish but man shaped and shadowy… wrapped around just under his rib cage." he said in an agitated way, he looked around and seemed to be frustrated at the lack of space, "It looked hollow and shadowy with flames on the inside and when I was looking at it…it kind of turned around and looked back at me."

Mary's expression lightened, "Excellent description Stiles, you have a fine eye for details. I think I know what this is. Deputy have you been to the Middle East recently?"

The Deputy seemed to suddenly stiffen into a more military stance as he replied, "Yes ma'am, well a few years ago now."

"Tell us what you can about the last time you were there, Jordan is it?" asked the older woman.

"Can't tell you where, but we, my crew and I were in a small village. Most of the locals had headed into the desert as the insurgents got closer. There was a woman and her two little kids. A girl about fourteen and a boy he was five or six. The woman's husband had been killed a couple of months before fighting off the insurgents. The woman and girl were sick with some kind of fever."

He took a deep breath as he relived the uncomfortable memories. "The company medic was treating the two women and the boy Aurvat. He kinda took a liking to me, followed me around. We got word that we had a small group of incoming insurgents, they advised us to bug out but we didn't want to leave them behind and the woman couldn't be moved We decided to stay."

His breathing had become ragged as he spoke, "The intel was bad of course, they had heavy artillery, a well armed group of about fifty. I was protecting the family. Then an artillery shell hit close to our position. Don't remember anything after that until I woke up in hospital with the news I was being shipped back home. They didn't think I was going to live to make it home. That's how bad it was."

"Found out later, I was the only survivor, they never said what happened to the family. Military's not that concerned with the native casualties. By he time they were finished filling out my discharge paperwork I was almost completely healed. The docs called it a straight up miracle." He looked at the pair for a second and then looking at the floor said self-deprecatingly, "Guess we know better now, huh?"

The older woman lifted his chin and said, "Thank you for your service and that courage has nothing to do with your hitch hiker deputy." Then looking over at the teen Mary said, "Yeah I'm pretty convinced I know what it is. Stiles can you check behind the deputies ears. You'll know what you're looking for when you find it."

Stiles looked a little uncomfortable but did as he was told. Checking the left ear first and found nothing, then he looked behind the other ear and said, "There's a scratch…no that's…what is that? It's like a slit or something back here." he said curiously.

"Yeah, I thought so. That's going to take a little more study and you'll need to decide afterwards if you want to get it out of your body but you're not naturally supernatural Deputy Parrish." Stiles gave a bark of laughter and even Parrish had to give a little half laugh/half cough. Mary thought back over what she had just said and merely shook her head as she continued, "You're being possessed by a jinn."

"You mean like a genie? Three wishes and all?" Stiles asked hopefully.

"No, genies are made up, jinns are real. Jinns are a race of shadowy spirits who can take physical form sometimes. When they're in their physical form they're vulnerable to sickness and harm but in their spirit form. They're pretty invincible and powerful."

The woman said thoughtfully as Stiles bent down to pick up the files he had knocked off earlier. "Have to do a little more research to find out more but that's what I remember. Like I said Stiles described them perfectly. I think a summoning spell to ask it a few questions would confirm what I remember."

"The slit behind your ear is probably part of the injuries you sustained during that battle that didn't heal and the jinn crawled in through there" Mary continued to explain.

When they heard Stiles make a pained noise. The pair turned to see the teen leaning heavily against his fathers desk as he studied the file he was looking at with a horrified expression on his face. He looked up at them and said, "Parrish you need to call my dad and have him come back now." He turned the file to show them it was the autopsy results from the body they had pulled from Hill Pointe.

"This describes scars to either side of the chest and a tattoo to the left hip. The tattoo was of a blue eyed tribal wolf and a tribal dolphin wrapped into an infinity symbol. I know that tattoo Lydia drew it for him, just before he left he had it done." There were tears in Stiles eyes as he said, "This is Danny, this was my friend."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N~ WARNING! Death of minor character ahead. Also for those who asked I don't go by canon where the jinn are concerned. This jinn glows orange on the inside but he is a good jinn. Please continue to read to find out more. Please continue to review to help me write better and thank you for continuing to read and enjoy this story. I will be off next week to celebrate with my family. I hope that all of you enjoy the holidays and are able to enjoy them with your friends and family. Peace and Happy Holidays to all. ~A**

**Chapter 6**

John Stilinski despite his sons reassurances that the food wasn't going to be taken away. Did his best to make it disappear before his son changed his mind and the forbidden fried goodness was snatched from him. He'd give Derek Hale a run for his money for apex predator of the year.

Stiles just shook his head and explained to his father how he knew the body found in a shallow leaf covered grave was Danny. He explained about the scars and that the tattoo was one that Lydia had actually drawn a couple of weeks before the other teen had supposedly left Beacon Hills, a little over a year ago.

He watched his son who was obviously upset by the death of his friend. It made him remember how many friends Stiles had lost over the past several years. John Stilinski, as a father, hated to say it but considering everything they had gone through he was actually glad. Glad that his son hadn't become so jaded that the death of a friend was still something to mourn and not something to be expected with living in Beacon Hills..

"Okay wait go back, that doesn't make sense though. The coroner said that the body was desiccated like it had been in the desert for several years before it was even buried out there." Then he looked up at Mary and before he could ask, "Sorry to disappoint you Sheriff but I only arrived by bus yesterday, from Boston." Then offering her hand she said, "Mary Spenser by the way, pleased to meet you even if this is a sad time."

Stiles had left it to Parrish to tell the Sheriff about his hitch hiker. So far the deputy had kept quiet about what they had just learned a few minutes prior to his fathers return. The teen figured that it was Jordan's right to keep the secret if he wanted.

Jordan did say, "Sir, I think we should keep the identity of the victim to ourselves until such time as we determine the manner of death and whether it has anything to do with the supernatural."

At the word supernatural the Sheriffs head whipped around to face Mary. Who was sure the poor man would have neck pains if not an actual case of whip lash if this kept up, "Don't worry I'm in the know about the supernatural. And again didn't arrive in town until yesterday."

The Sheriff looked immensely relieved as he told the deputy to draft a press release refusing to identify the victim until such time as the next of kin could be notified. Parrish agreed and left the small office closing the door behind him as he did.

Stilinski Sr. was nearly finished with the food bribe when Stiles said, "Dad there are some other things that I need to tell you." The Sheriff was gravely disappointed to have his lemon cake suddenly begin to taste like cardboard.

"Okay," he said bracing himself mentally as he looked expectantly at his son.

"Ms. Spenser has asked me to be her assistant. She's bought some property and wants me to help find and hire some of the local people to work out there. She also needs a driver and stuff but she wanted to meet you first. So you didn't think she was a serial killer or something…and that joke would have gone over a lot better if this hadn't happened."

The Sheriff could admit he was also grateful for the woman who had placed a hand on his sons shoulder in a silent show of support and comfort as he crumbled a little. "That's great son, I'm actually kind of happy for you. I figured you'd be at loose ends with Scott not being around."

"Dad there's a few other things…" Stiles said with significantly more trepidation. "I'm a Spark."

When his father continued to stare at him expectantly Stiles was relieved. For a short time he had been afraid that his father would confess to knowing he or his mother were sparks. The thought of his parents binding his powers even after realizing how dangerous Beacon Hills was had made him nearly sick with disillusionment.

"Dad, a spark is a person who has a natural ability to do magic. Usually they don't know they have it and they go through life thinking they're really lucky or just have a whole lot of weird shit happen to them." His kid gave a weak chuckle and said, "Guess we know which category I fall into, huh?"

"Stiles," his father said in a tone that was equal parts guilt and concern. He actually saw the woman, Mary, squeeze his son's shoulder from where he was sitting at the desk. He stood up and moved around to the front of the desk so that he could lean against the front.

The teen took a few minutes to collect himself all the guilt, sorrow, and yes anger could clearly be seen on his face. Finally drawing a deep breath and bracing himself he said, "Ms. Spenser is going to teach me how to use my Spark."

Even though he tried hard to hide it he couldn't quite cover the suspicion that came into his eyes. "Ok, no offense to Ms. Spenser, but why didn't you ask Dr. Deaton?" he asked thoughtfully, "He's supposed to be a Druid, or something right?"

"I already did," Stiles said flatly, "He basically told me I didn't have a Spark to speak of, not enough to bother with." Then the young man closed his eyes, sensing what he was about to do Mary moved around the room closing the blinds quickly. By the time she was done so was the teenager. Above his hand floated a slightly smaller energy ball, only about two inches across. The mixture of energies within it were no less varied or intense though.

Son gazed at father intently as he said, "This is the third time today I've done something like this, I think he was mistaken don't you?" He copied the closing of the fist and the flicking motion and the energy was dismissed back into him and the atmosphere. "I need someone who can actually focus on me, teaching me to do this dad. Mary has already said she would."

"She just said that she has business here that she's going to be taking care of, how do you even know she'll have time to…" his father started.

Mary interrupted, "Because I asked him Sheriff. For this, I will _make_ the time." she said the words as if she were making a vow.

"I have a feeling," Stiles said, his eyes distant with memory and grief. "That if Deaton knew this and had trained me. Before the Alpha's, before the Nogitsune, before the Oni and the Darach. Erica and Boyd would still be alive, the sacrifices Jennifer made would still be alive, the people the Oni killed would still be alive. Allison and Aiden would still be alive and the Nogitsune would have found it a lot harder to use me like a puppet."

Stiles shook his head, trying to clear it of the memories that were plaguing him, he looked at his father and continued, "I don't know why he didn't see it, but I'm willing to give Deaton the benefit of the doubt and say that he just missed it. I'll try to forgive him for that but I'm not going to forget it. Anymore than I'm going to forget where the fault lies in the other deaths that happened."

"If I can help it, there aren't going to be anymore deaths, and I'm going to make sure there aren't anymore, part of that is learning how to use this power." When Stiles saw his father open his mouth to say something he raised his hand and the trio in the room flinched, when a crackle of static electricity ran through the broom closet sized space as he snapped, rather more loudly than he intended, "No Dad." before he continued only slightly softer, "Mary is teaching me and that's final."

Stiles turned and left the office to find one of the new deputies and the new receptionist staring at him. Mary who had followed him out of the office, catches his arm and leads him out of the station quickly.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Once they're back in the Jeep Stiles puts his keys in the ignition and Mary promptly takes them back out. The young man doesn't even argue he just scowls at her as he gets is breathing back under control.

When he seems to have improved she asks carefully, "So you don't think it was an accident that Deaton didn't notice your spark?"

The question was almost rhetorical but he answered anyway, "No I don't and yes I think it's very possible that Deaton is the one who bound my powers, though I don't know how or when."

They sat in the hot Jeep for a few more minutes before Stiles said thoughtfully, "What's involved in a binding?"

"I take it you mean what do you need?" At the teens nod she explained, "Hair, blood, fingernails, a bit of skin, you don't even have to be there for him to do the ritual."

Stiles nodded his head and said, "And who do we all go to when we want to get patched up after taking on the monster of the week?" he said darkly. Then suddenly he felt a cooling breeze blow through the Jeep and another. Stiles looked up through the Jeep window to find the still dried out branches of the landscaping for the Sheriffs station.

He looked over at Mary as she said, "Anger and heat don't mix, cooler heads are better."

"What lesson is that Chun?" Stiles asked sarcastically.

The older woman obviously didn't get the reference for the classic movie, but she answered the question easily enough., "The one that says an angry magic user makes mistakes that has people getting hurt or killed. Your friend Deaton.."

"Not sure that's true anymore," the teen responded.

Mary didn't miss a beat as she continued, "Deaton, has probably had the opportunity to gather samples from al of you and bind your powers, but he's gotten away with it, because nobody else knows magic You loosing your head and going over their without a plan would be foolish at the least and deadly dangerous at worst."

"Got it, cool heads prevail," the boy said a tad grouchily. Then said, "Damn, that's why Deaton shaves his head. Less chance of someone getting mojo over him."

The woman nodded, her mouth twisted in a line of disappointment. "Yeah, I'm more concerned with the things he already has on you and your friends."

Stiles looked over at her and said, "You know about the Pack don't you?"

Mary shrugged which made another breeze flow through the Jeep. "I know of the Pack, the Hale Pack was very famous and I was sad to learn about their destruction. I take it this is part of that Pack and then some?"

The boy nodded before sighing tiredly and saying, "How'd you guess?"

Mary said, "I suspected or hoped all along that at least one member of the Pack may have survived before I ever came. When I met you and then you and your father were talking about the Darach, the Nogitsune, and the Alpha pack, all due respect to you, your dad, and this Deaton fellow, oh and the deputy of course… but I didn't think you could take all of that on just the four of you and survive."

The boy snorted with derision as he said, "Yeah I think we are and have been the strangest most dysfunctional pack around, and not all of us did survive."

"Something to discuss later," Mary said thoughtfully, before continuing, "The things you said in there about things being different? You can't live in the past Stiles, and you will not take this as an opportunity to pile the guilt on because you know you have this gift now."

She held up her hand to stop him arguing before she continued, "You didn't know you were a Spark before. You're still bound and you haven't been trained. What exactly do you think you could have done to save your friends?"

"Okay that's a little freaky. How did you know that's what I was feeling?"

"As sneaky as you think you are, your face is an open book." she said with a smile before concluding, "No spooky powers needed."

The boy merely nodded and then went back to what they had been discussing, "So can we get the stuff back?"

Mary nodded, "Oh yes we're definitely getting all of it back and then we're going to establish a few boundaries with the good doctor. But first things first. How do you feel?"

Before he could even answer she was shaking her head and said, "Really think about it, assess yourself, how do you feel?"

Stiles huffed but actually thought about how he felt. Still a little hung over if the muzzy head was any indication and then he thought again and realized he had forgotten to take his Adderall today. He was also sore in several different places and tired… really, really tired, drained almost. Which under different circumstances he would have blamed on the heat but Mary had been blasting them with natural air conditioning. So no that wasn't it. "Tired, drained?"

"Yeah, that's understandable you use up a lot of your own energy right now to do the magic. A nap is in order then we'll do the unbinding spell. Let's head to your house. You'll take a nap, I'll make you and your dad dinner. We'll talk about what we need to break the binding, and then I'll head back to the hotel." she said thoughtfully already planning from the look on her face. As she handed the keys back to him, she deliberately tapped the back of his hand and he felt a coolness pass through him that had him breath a little easier as the band of exhaustion around his head eased a bit.

He gave the older woman a small smile of gratitude before starting the Jeep and heading for home.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N~ Flame to a Blaze-So this is the second book in Spark to a Flame, Mary is establishing herself in Beacon Hills. Stiles is about to learn more about being a Spark, in one week than most learn in several months. As for more read for yourselves and please remember to review. I love reviews. Only one chapter this week because of the New Year. Hope everyone is having a Great Holiday Season! ~A **

**Chapter 7**

To say that John Stilinski was shocked to find Mary in his kitchen when he got home was an understatement. To find her fixing dinner wasn't what he had hoped for that afternoon. He had hoped to come home and have a discussion with his son.

The fact that Stiles had an entire life in the supernatural for months before the Sheriff had ever found out what his son had been up to had never sat well with the man. His own involvement with the things that "go bump in the night" had evolved after that in the hopes of protecting his son and the town folk from it.

Melissa McCall had none too politely informed him he was a horses ass and that it was a nice effort but effectively closing the barn door after the cows and everything else had escaped. So this was supposed to be a pre-emptive strike to keep Stiles from getting even more involved in the supernatural.

He would put his foot down and demand that Stiles not get involved with Mary Spenser, or learning how to do magic. That was the plan right up until he walked into the kitchen and found her at the stove stirring something that smelled spicy and delicious.

An icy cold beer sat on the table already opened, the woman put the spoon down and turned to face him. She crossed her arms and said, "Have a seat and a drink Sheriff," then added helpfully, "if you can hold your liquor, that is. I wouldn't want it said I took advantage."

"Exactly how would you be taking advantage Ms. Spenser?"

"I plan on explaining the facts of life to you Sheriff. This life and the supernatural one your son and his friends are leading. The one that keeps the non-supernatural's of this town and the surrounding countryside alive." she said indicating the chair and cold drink. "Then I plan to negotiate for you to understand why the future survival of everyone in this town depends on Stiles and his friends staying alive and as strong and well-adjusted as possible."

"Are you saying my sons not well-adjusted?" Stilinski said harshly.

"Considering the things he's seen and gone through, I'd say he's better adjusted than he should be." she said and the sheriff finally sat down at the table.

He tilted the beer bottle in her direction and said, "Thanks," before taking a deep swallow of the beer.

"Which means he's lying," she said boldly, "and I didn't give you credit for it." The beer coming spewing back out of his mouth was a little petty but gratifying none the less.

"What?" he managed to get out in between his coughing to clear is throat. Mary just sighed and decided to take mercy on him and after a final stir. She turned the food down and sat down across from him at the table.

"Mr. Stilinski," the woman said with a heavy sigh, "your son needs you. More than you will ever know. To the point that he does crazy things. Like going to search for dead bodies in the middle of the night to help you with your cases so you don't work late hours. To the point he has you on a strict diet and has talked pretty much every waitress and short order cook in this town into telling him when you cheat on said diet."

The Sheriff took another swig of the beer and she said, "He takes the alcohol you buy and drinks it himself so you can't because he's worried about your drinking." the man gave a sour look at the woman and started to interrupt and talk right over him, "Your son loves you he also loved his mother and misses her too. You think because he was younger he doesn't have the same pain as you do?"

"He and I both know that something bad is coming. Let's face it, it's Beacon Hills, and the people who settled here had a good reason for calling it that. He needs to train and he knows it and with or without your permission he will do what needs to be done. He is your son after all."

"Exactly he is my son, not yours, I'm trying to keep him safe." the Sheriff said pushing the empty bottle away from himself on the table.

With a flick of her fingers Mary sent the bottle flying through the air to land in the recycling bin and replied, "John, an untrained Spark is a danger magnet. Even people without any magic in them will either love him or hate him on sight and not know why. You think that Stiles will be safer without the training? Safer against the hunters, the wolves, the Kanima, the Darach, Berserkers, Oni, Nogitsune and who knows what? Really? You think he'd want you the person he cares the most about in the world to stand between him and the bad things in the world?"

"He's just a kid…" the father said helplessly.

"Wrong, he grew up a long time ago, John. Too bad you never did." the brunette said sharply before standing up and going back to the stove

He heard her muttering and at first thought she was angry with him and muttering to herself. Until he tuned in to what she was saying and realized she seemed to be having a one-sided conversation with Stiles. This was confirmed when his son, looking decidedly rumpled came downstairs rubbing his eyes. He came over to his dad and gave him a one armed hug, before heading to the stove.

He didn't hug her but he seemed comfortable getting into her personal space as he looked over her shoulder at the stew she was stirring. He reached into a drawer and drew out a spoon and handed it to her as he began talking about an unbinding ritual and what they would need to break the binding. She dipped the spoon into the stew and gave some to Stiles, with the requisite, "Careful it's hot," thrown in for good measure.

The boy nodded as he turned to face his father he leaned against the stove as he tasted the food. "Yum," he commented before tossing the spoon in the sink. He asked, "So where can we find the angelica root?"

"Stiles," his father called. His son looked up at him and there was a determination in his eyes that the sheriff had seen many times before. "Damn, you are just as stubborn as your mother was."

The teen snorted and rubbed the back of his neck as he said, "Funny she said the same thing about you." Father and son just smiled a little sadly at each other.

When Mary was sure that the pair weren't going to argue, she heaved a mental sigh of relief and said, "if there are any stores that cater to the Spanish speaking residents we should be able to find some Angelica there. But we eat now and stop worrying about such things." She said turning the food to warm and taking the bread out of the oven.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N~ So here we are again. Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday Season. Please enjoy this and don't forget to read, enjoy and review! Thank you all for your views and reviews. Let me know what you think folks. ~A**

**Chapter 8**

The next morning Mary had walked up to the front door of the Stilinski home and rang the bell several times before Stiles climbed out of bed and went down the stairs to answer. When Stiles looked at her blearily out of the half open door in his two year old skinny jeans with grease on them and a t-shirt with at least as much hole as fabric, she scowled at him.

"What?" the teen asked defensively.

She pushed past him into the house and said, "Is your father here?"

"No, he went to work, he had the early shift."

The woman shook her head and muttered, "No wonder." Then turning back to Stiles she ordered, "_You_ shower now, where's your room?"

When he told her she disappeared upstairs, he followed her up the stairs and ducked into the bathroom. He showered quickly wrapped the bath towel around his waist and peeked into his room to find the strange sight of Mary on her hands and knees. Her front half stuck in the bottom of his closet, she heard him come into the room. "Stiles where are your nicer shoes?"

"You mean my dress shoes, why?" asked the teen as his attention was caught by the clothes he assumed Mary had laid out on his bed a pale blue short sleeved shirt and dark washed jeans. Beside it was a longer bag with his converse and one of his favorite t-shirts. It was what else was in the bag that caught his attention.

"Is that a gun?" he said with a healthy dose of fear in his voice.

"Yes, several. Stiles, pay attention, not dress, just nicer." Mary said sitting back on her heels to look at the teen.

"I don't have any nicer, not dress shoes, just dress shoes." Stiles said. Then waving his arms a little wildly, "Little more important here, why do you have guns, plural in your bag."

"Dress shoes, it is then," drawing them out of his closet, ignoring his questions about the guns she added, "but we are definitely doing a little shopping for you later young man."

Standing up she walked over and putting them on the bed said, Now hurry up we're already running late," as she grabbed the bag off the bed and headed out of the room, with the thing actually clinking from its contents.

"Please just tell me!", Stiles shouted and this time he had to catch the towel to keep it from falling when he waved his arms.

Mary paused in the doorway and turned back to face him her eyebrow raised and said with amusement, "Course hon, what do you need to know?"

"Please tell me I'm not gonna play Clyde to your Bonnie and we're not going to go out and rob a bank."

"Not without a fedora," she snipped, seeing his panic she gave in to her humor and said, "No Stiles, we're not robbing a bank, but we are going to one so get a move on. And don't forget to take your meds."

Stiles flopped face first on the bed, effectively trapping the towel underneath him and exposing his bare backside to the slight chill of the fan in his room to his still damp skin. "I'm working for someone who's sense of humor is even darker than the Creepers," the teen huffed.

"I heard that and we're leaving in ten minutes, no matter how dressed you are Stiles, I mean it." came from downstairs.

Stiles realized that she probably meant it and quickly finished dressing. He had just taken his Adderall with some leftover Gatorade he found in his room, when he heard her call, "Stiles its time to go now." Grabbing his wallet and keys from his dresser, he nearly tripped down the stairs and landed beside her easily.

"Where to first?" he asked eagerly.

"First tuck in your shirt," then she looked him in the eye and admonished, "This is serious Stiles, all of it. I expect you to be ready at nine each morning, and to be dressed like a business assistant not an assistant waiter. Right now, we're just starting but it is summertime and I will be paying you for your work, so _do _the work, okay?"

Stiles tucked in the shirt and blushed so hard his ears actually burned from the firm critique, "Sorry, Mary, I'll try and do better."

"Okay kiddo," she picked up a leather bound folio and handed it to the younger man, "this is for you." It was an organizer complete with calendar, contacts, space for notes and all. Today's schedule was full. Bank, city hall, court house, lunch, check contractors, SHOPPING, gun range, unbinding. Take your father to dinner.

"We won't be taking the bag into the bank with us but we will be taking it with us." Mary said as they headed out to the Jeep. Stiles made sure the front door locked behind him as he managed to wrestle the heavy duffle down the front walk and into the back of his Jeep.

He climbed into the drivers seat and found Mary holding a twenty out to him and she said, "What's the best bank in town, not the biggest or fanciest, just the best?"

Stiles thought about it and said, "Dad says the American National, has the best security and the nicest tellers."

"From your father that is high praise, alright any drive-thru's between here and there you like?"

"There's Dunphy's they have great breakfast sandwiches?" Stiles suggested helpfully. Mary smiled and nodded agreeably as the boy started the Jeep and pulled away.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Mary had asked him if he had a checking account, he told her he did. She then instructed Stiles to get information on checking and savings accounts as well as safety deposit boxes. Meanwhile she went to get some information and help from one of the people sitting at the desks.

When Stiles came to sit beside her at the desk the man sitting there looked between the two of them as Mary ignored him and continued to read the documents before her. "Anything you think I should know Mr. Stilinski?"

Stiles managed to keep a straight face as he caught on to the game Mary was playing with the man behind the desk, "Yes ma'am, the bank has actually had some recent upgrades to their security and are also currently in the process of negotiating to purchase land to place a new ATM closer to your new property. Their fees and rates are competitive although the safety deposit boxes are cheaper at the previous establishment."

"I think we can deal with the added cost if it includes added security and discretion of course," she said, pinning the man with a stare that would have frozen the blood of nearly any man. "Don't you agree Mr. Stilinski?"

"Yes ma'am," Stiles agreed with a vague smile he reserved for really boring teachers.

They continued their business with the accounts officer, including transferring an amount into a newly opened account at the bank that included an incredible number of zeros in Stiles opinion. The pair walked out of the bank and when they had gotten a short distance from the front doors of the bank, Stiles had to let out a gasping laugh, "Did you see his face? He looked like he could have swallowed a fish when you gave him that transfer order."

"You should have seen his face when you came up and sat down," said Mary, "I think he was trying to figure out whether you were my kid or if I was robbing the cradle or something."

The pair were laughing hard as they walked to the parking lot, when some instinct had Mary raising her arm to block the blow coming for Stiles. The teen turned at the same time to face the attacker. A young redhead that Mary didn't recognize but apparently Stiles did.

"What the hell, Lydia?" Stiles said, probably a little more harshly than he intended.

Only to hear Lydia say at the same time, "What the…Stiles?"

The strawberry blond stared pointedly at where Mary still held her arm. Mary only continued to glare at the girl angrily. Sighing heavily Stiles said, "You can let her go, she's smarter than to try that again."

"Is she? I wonder. What if I'd had the big bag?" the teen only shook his head and stared pleadingly at his new boss, and she deliberately turned the wrist she was holding Lydias arm with to stare at her watch. "It is about time for your coffee break Mr. Stilinski. You have 15 minutes, use it wisely.. we still have a lot to accomplish today." she said finally releasing her hold on Lydia. She turned and walked to the Jeep to wait.

"Who the hell is that?" Lydia asked rudely.

"My bodyguard," Stiles snarked, "What's your problem Lydia?"

"My problem is that your girlfriend just bruised me. I should press charges for assault."

"Yeah and when I tell my dad, that she was protecting me from you? Who exactly do you think he' ll arrest?"

"You would choose her over me? The girl you've had a crush on since we were in the third grade?" Lydia said sarcastically.

Stiles eyes darkened angrily but he merely asked coldly, "Why did you feel the need to attack me Lydia?"

"You told Jordan, what he is." she said as if that should explain everything.

"Yeah, we finally figured it out, yesterday." Stiles said with a hint of confused irritation in his expression. "So?"

"So?!" the girl said in a waspish tone, "So you were supposed to tell me, so I could tell him on his birthday. Remember, at the party."

"So he found out a couple of days early Lydia. What's the big deal?" Then he saw the look in her eyes and he scowled at his former crush with disdain.

"Really Lyds, you want the guy that's great. You deserve somebody nice. Parrish _is_ nice which means we didn't hesitate to tell him what he is when we found out. The fact that you're not going to get the glory of telling him in front of everybody at the party, didn't really enter into it." he said staring at her with a hard expression on his face. He turned to walk away and then he added as he walked backwards away from Lydia, "You know, I mistakenly thought it was about Jordan, it is his birthday after all."

"Yeah well you're uninvited to the party." Lydia screamed at the other teenager.

"Sorta figured," Stiles said more to himself than anything as he went and climbed into the drivers seat of the Jeep.

Pasting on a mask of cheer, Stiles asked, "Where to now boss?"

Mary looked at the brunette with some concern before saying, "So we're not going to talk about the red haired elephant in the Jeep?"

"Nope," then seeing the look of genuine concern on the older woman's face, "not right now, maybe later. When I'm over it"

She studied him for a moment longer and said, "Ok then, city hall and or court house. Whichever is closest first."

"That's easy, they're right across the street from each other and right down the street from the Sheriff's Department." the teen said as he pulled the Jeep out of the parking space.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N~ Here is another chapter. I'm glad everyone is enjoying this story. Please continue to review. I would love to hear so that I can make improvements where they are needed. Love you guys. ~A**

**Chapter 9**

To save time they divided the tasks between them. Stiles went into the courthouse and asked Ms. Williams if they kept the blueprints and permits for the houses around town. He immediately got the impression that the woman rarely got visitors as she was very eager to please.

She helped him find the blue prints for the Hale House, as well as records of any permits for additions or renovations made to the building since it was originally erected. She told him he couldn't take the originals and that unfortunately their printer hadn't worked in several months but that as long as she accompanied him they could go to the Kinko's on the corner and make copies of the documents and blue prints there.

Ms. Williams kept up a lively conversation with Stiles as they waited for everything to be copied. Luckily Mary had given her assistant a rather thick wad of cash before they left the Jeep, so he wasn't too concerned about how much getting everything copied was going to cost. The stack of bills was so thick in fact the teen was fairly sure he would have to find another place other than his wallet to store it for fear of putting his butt to sleep.

Stiles had the employees put al of the material into a cardboard tube and helped the records clerk carry the original documents back to the courthouse. He thanked the records clerk sincerely before going and locking the cardboard tube in the back of the Jeep and then going to track down his new boss.

He found her sitting on the steps of city hall enjoying the sunshine. He plopped down beside her and giving her a scrap of note paper. "The original architect of Hale House, his firm is apparently very famous and still in San Jose." he said helpfully.

She took the number and brushed her pants off as she stood up and said, "Very cool," as they made their way back to the Jeep, "and we're done a little early. Wanna take your dad out to lunch?"

"I'll call him and…" Stiles had pulled his cell out of his pocket when two Sheriffs cars pulled up on either side of the pair. John Stilinski got out of one and Deputy Parrish out of the other.

"Dad. What's going on?" Stiles asked a little nervously. Trying to figure out if he had done something to get them in trouble this morning.

His father didn't even answer him instead he went to Mary and taking her elbow looked her in the eyes and said, "Please." She tilted her head and looked at her arm and then the blond man's face. Parrish came and took Stiles arm and was a little more forthcoming than the sheriff, "We need you to come with us."

Mary looked over at the teen and nodded her head. Instead of going to the Jeep to follow the two peacekeepers. They were helped into the back of the squad cars which then swiftly reversed out of their haphazard parking spots and took off down the road out of town.

**XXXXXXXXX**

"Care to enlighten me as to what's going on Sheriff." Mary asked with exaggerated patience.

"When we get there," Stilinski replied through clenched teeth.

"Where's there?" she asked and when she got no response, her temper got the better of her, "Ok we'll play whose are bigger then." She closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them again they were solid black and suddenly both patrol car engines shut off. The cars continued to roll a few feet but they wouldn't restart. "Hmm," and there was a hint of a growl in the sound, "Answer, mine are."

There was a clicking sound and the back doors on both patrol cars popped open. Mary and then Stiles climbed out of the patrol cars and the teen trotted back to stand beside her. His father was struggling with the door of the patrol car before he finally realized the infernal woman had apparently sealed the doors to the patrol car shut.

He scowled at her as she faced him and said, "Really Sheriff I would have thought you would be mature enough not to resort to these pubescent male challenging rituals. You were married for heavens sake. You should know the woman is always right."

"Mary please don't piss off my father." Stiles said pleadingly, "I have to live with the guy."

"Hey, he pissed me off first," then looking at her student, "Ok fine but he better answer me this time. Why did you basically just kidnap us off the street and if you don't answer me I will be pressing charges against the department."

Whenever the Sheriff looked mulish, Stiles reprimanded sharply, "Dad!"

"Fine, we have another dead body. I'm beginning to think there might be something supernatural involved. Jarrod mentioned that you both helped him and I know Stiles has experience with this stuff and we seem to be seriously lacking at the moment with anyone with experience in this field. I decided to go with what I had."

"Who, not what, Sheriff. And asking would have been considered polite," he looked confused for a moment and then flushed red. Whether from embarrassment or irritation, Mary didn't know or care. Mary looked at Stiles for a moment until he nodded his head, and the pair got back into the two squad cars. As soon as they were both buckled in the cars started back up again, and almost drove themselves to the crime scene.

Stiles came to stand beside her and Mary could tell his father took that a little personally. She could tell though that Stiles was just a little nervous with the possibility of seeing a dead body. She decided to be as business like as possible and to see how far Stiles was capable of going.

"How far are we from the previous crime scene?" she said thoughtfully.

"About half a mile in that direction," he said pointing northwest.

"So territorial," she turned to Stiles and said quietly, "Mark it in the map of town in your head." Watching her footing as they made their way through the woods, she asked, "Ok where were the boys last seen and when?"

"We don't need you to solve the crime Ms. Spenser, we'll do that?" the Sheriff said a little sharply looking at his son rather than Mary but it was she who answered him.

"No but we need to know its hunting ground, where and how it disposes of the body and how often it has to feed to determine what it is. So yes you do need our help to find the killer and probably to figure out how to kill it as well." Mary replied as she held onto the side of a tree as she climbed over its roots. "Now do I have to ask again?"

The older blond sighed heavily and finally replied, "Right now, Stiles was the last one to see Danny and that was outside the video store. We haven't identified this young man yet but I would say its been several weeks at least."

When they came upon the small clearing with the yellow tarp over the body, Mary looked over at Stiles. "Stiles, take a deep breath, center, then distance yourself. You're playing a video game, a virtual reality game with your senses involved. Ready?"

Stiles closed his eyes and followed her instructions, then opened his eyes and gave a quick nod. "Gloves please," she said quickly. Jordan gave her a pair but the Sheriff balked grasping his sons shoulder.

"My sons not going over there and you…you're not contaminating the crime scene." he said sharply.

Looking at the man sternly she said, "You asked for my help. Do you want it or not? Stiles is my student he has to learn to recognize things. He can't get everything from books or the internet." She didn't say anything else but stepped towards the remains.

She looked over at Stiles and indicated with her chin where she wanted him to stand, she looked up at him and said, "Ready?" before she actually pulled back the tarp.

Stiles nodded his head and she pulled back the tarp to expose the nude body of what Stiles imagined might have been a man at one time. Except something had removed his genitals, opened up his chest, and dried him up more shriveled than a raisin in the sun.

Without even touching the body Mary looked up at Stiles, "Without coming any closer and using only your initial senses, what can you judge from the remains?"

Stiles nodded his head nervously and walked around the body studying the ground around it thoughtfully, "No drag marks, and no blood, that doesn't make sense." he said his brow knit in confusion.

"Explain," Mary said encouragingly.

"If they were killed here, there should be blood, right. None around the body, but if they were killed somewhere else and brought here there should be drag marks or some sign that the ground is disturbed. It's not, it doesn't make sense." the brunette explained thoughtfully.

"Good observation. Anything else you notice before you get closer?" asked the brunette woman as she knelt by the body. Stiles looked at the body and then smelled the ammonia instead of the normal revolting smell of rotting flesh. "Ammonia and something else, not normal, chemically."

His face lit up suddenly as he remembered where had smelled the scent before, "Sulfur, I remember from chemistry class." then his brows knit again as he asked, "Why do I smell ammonia and sulfur?"

"Reptiles. They release those two scents for two reasons, mating and to protect a food source." said Mary helpfully. "Notice the lack of perdition?"

"Huh?" Stiles said, even more confused.

"Sorry, scientific terms used in supernatural events just don't mix. Right, perdition is when predators gnaw, chew, or eat the tender parts of a carcass. Notice there aren't any signs of that except where the initial attack occurred."

Stiles looked at the body and spoke as he studied, "It is very intact looking. Clean, almost mummified looking. Wait there are no bugs, even if the bodies only been here a few hours there should be bugs. It's summertime, there should be ants, flies, mosquitoes something. Hell, we should have mosquitoes trying to suck us dry even, but there's nothing."

Recognizing a possible oncoming freak out, Mary said calmly, "Stiles start making a circle around the area go out about five feet each time. Look for tracks, blood, drag marks, and so forth and try not to trample the evidence." Pulling a thin spool of twine out of her purse she tossed it to the teen and said, "Mark the trail if you find it as far as that will go, when you're done come back and we'll continue."

As his son paced away the sheriff stepped closer, "I hadn't noticed half the stuff he just saw." he whispered in awe.

Mary smirked with a hint of pride, "I'd like to say that was the spark, but no most of it is just Stiles. He's highly observant and is able to put things together better than most of his peers. When he gets back I'll need you to step back again. We're going to do a little magic and he'll need to focus." Before he could ask she said, "No sheriff we're not going to raise the dead today. Now did you search for ID yet?"

"No, I just smelled the sulfur smell and thought it might be demon related…" he replied shrugging sheepishly.

"So you then came to get us, I see. I'm a little insulted your mind went from demon to me so directly. I suppose that's a topic for another day though." she said as she carefully felt through the leaves around the body. Trying not to disturb the crime scene anymore than had already occurred.

She was almost halfway up to her elbow in leaf little under the body when she let out a little cheer and said, "Yes," as she carefully pulled a wallet out from under the corpse.

She reached out to hand the billfold to Deputy Parrish as the sheriff said, "How does he not have a stitch of clothing on but he has a wallet buried under him."

"My guess, he took his clothes off to have sex, pulled a condom out of his wallet and dropped it and as often happens the thing went for a walk. When the killer tried to clean up after their self, they didn't find it. Luckily for you guys." Mary said thoughtfully.

Stiles came walking back toward them and said I found their trail and took the string as far as it would go about fifty yards out. Tracks, two people, both wearing tennis shoes, about the same build, both male or a woman with really big feet. No blood, no drag marks." he said, and then added a little angrily, "So what the hell happened?"

"Oh I have a theory," Mary said as she studied the remains thoughtfully. "Stiles first magic lesson of the day. Even a dead body will have a hint of life in it for ages after its died. Its DNA, its identity is like radiation in a way. It has a half life a certain rate of decay and we may be able to get information from it."

Stiles was fascinated, "Seriously? How?"

"You remember how you found Parrish's secret, do the same for this fellow." she said.

"His name is Ryan Shelley," the deputy offered helpfully and with that Stiles face paled and he crab walked away from the body a few feet.

"I know him," Stiles said breathlessly after his father called his name in concern. "He was Danny's boyfriend, they broke up before Danny decided he loved Ethan instead."

"It's alright Stiles I can do it." Mary said soothingly, "You'll get your workout this evening. Trust me." she added encouragingly. Closing her eyes for a minute she raised her hand a few inches over the body and ran it from the head down the torso. Then yanked it back cursing under her breath as she shook her hand vigorously for a moment.

"I'm glad you didn't do this one, Sweetie. It's not good." carefully moving back up to the corpses head. Mary worked to raise one of the corpses eyelids. Curiously the two men stepped forward to try and look over her shoulder. While Stiles hid his face in his hands as he sat in the fallen leaves at the base of an oak nearby.

The Sheriff muttered under his breath, whether a curse or something more Mary wasn't sure, but she sat back on her heels and drew a deep breath. She looked up at the sad eyes of the teen that sat across the clearing from her as she said, "Yeah, I know what killed him, and I know how you can kill it. I just don't know how you're going to find it."

**XXXXXXXXX**

The Sheriff insisted on walking his son out of the woods and back to the patrol car with Mary helping to support the young man just a little. After all the teen had his pride. When they got back to the car, his father got a bottle of water out of the cooler in the trunk while Mary got a candy bar out of her purse. When the young spark had gotten halfway through both he asked what the Sheriff wanted to, "What is it?"

"A lamia…part snake, part lamprey, part succubus. Originally in the legends, the first was a lover to Zeus until his wife Hera killed her children in retribution. Lamia went mad and began seducing young humans and sucking the life force out of them. The first test, to check the level of life force left in the remains there was absolutely none left. The lamia sucked it all out, every drop."

"That's why it looks like a mummy," Stiles said recovering quickly from the shock of knowing two murder victims in as many days.

Mary merely nodded, "The original Lamia couldn't close its eyes, so it would forever see the horror of what it had become and the horrible crimes it was committing. So it would pluck its own eyes out and use its victims eyes instead. Which of course only worked until the next victim. Another problem it uses the images of the victims family, friends and acquaintances to find its next victims." she said reaching for her own bottle of water to take a few sips.

"So she killed Danny first and now his boyfriend,"

"I'm afraid it's worse than that Sheriff, the Lamia has to feed about once a week. I have a feeling if you search the woods between here and where Danny was found you'll find more bodies. All of Danny's family, lovers, friends, even casual acquaintances. Stiles is lucky that he hasn't come across it or possibly he has but his spark protected him. Lamias, are afraid of magical beings, other shifters like werewolves usually recognize and know to stay away from it because of the smell."

"The problem is other than the smell there is no way to recognize it. It can camouflage itself to look like anyone, male or female it doesn't matter. The only difference you might notice is their eye color or like I said the smell. Also the only way to kill it is to destroy the skin." she continued thoughtfully. Racking her brain for all she remembered about these monsters.

"I'm sorry, it's skin?" the Sheriff asked skeptically.

"Yes, its chameleon like ability and its life force are mostly in its skin. It will always have it on its body. As a belt, shoes, purse, clothes or something. Traditionally it's a belt though, burn that and it should kill them."

"Yeah okay, well if that's everything…" John's voice was tired and almost desperate.

"It's not," Mary said gently trying to give the man a break but knowing he wasn't going to like this next bit any better than the rest. "Before the summer is over its probably going to lay at least one batch of eggs. They are asexual so they don't need a mate, reptiles." Shrugging her shoulders she continued, "If there's an increase in the disappearances or the bodies that appear, that's the indication its nesting."

Stillinski sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "And I'm going to assume it would be better if we caught it before that?"

"Yeah much better," Stiles responded knowingly.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N~ I am afraid the posting times of this fic will slow from twice a week to once at least for a little while If I get more reviews I may post more. I'm having a few issues though at the moment with my computer. Thanks to everyone for their reviews and follows and favorites. Thanks to everyone and I'm really glad everyone likes the storyline so much. ~A**

**Flame to a Blaze-Chapter 10**

The Sheriff could not be convinced to keep the identity of the new victim under wraps and truthfully Mary couldn't blame him. Though how he was going to warn the family to stay away from someone who looked just like their son if he should suddenly appear on their doorstep. For that she did not envy the man in the least.

He did ask her advice on how to catalog the death and after a few moments consideration, she suggested he list it as undetermined. "Use the medical examiner, that is what he's there for. There's nothing here he can't attribute to perdition, depending on his skill and capabilities and if he does deem it suspicious fine. There's no way really to connect the two deaths other than they knew each other and dated. Danny purportedly died nearly a year ago. This one a few weeks ago at best."

"Yeah and the fact that they died in the same general area, Beacon Hills is a kind of small town dad." Stiles provided helpfully. Mary saw the poor man pinch the bridge of his nose again and sigh.

The Sheriff then had Deputy Parrish take the pair of them back to Stiles' jeep. After he had a long soft-spoken conversation with Stiles during which the father and son had embraced. The man had just gone up a few points in Mary's estimation. Which was good, as he was about to go in the negatives.

They arranged with the deputy to meet with him for the next afternoon after his shift ended but before Lydia's party to have the conversation with his hitchhiker as Stiles had nicknamed the possessive jinn. He actually got out of the cruiser when they got to Stiles jeep and shook both of their hands and told them he was grateful for their help. When Stiles seemed shocked at the show of appreciation the Deputy pulled the younger man into a one armed hug

The young man responded still a little stiffly and Parrish stared at Sties with a little concern and then gave Ms. Spenser the same look. The older woman merely tilted her head slightly, Jordan merely said to the younger Stilinski, "You never really learned how to accept compliments or gratitude did you?"

The brunette tried to laugh it off, but Parrish continued to gaze at him for a few minutes. Before a radio call from the sheriff had the deputy back on task, he thanked them again and then got into his cruiser and sped back towards the crime scene.

"So…are you up to lunch or shall we postpone it till after our shopping trip?" Mary asked gently.

Stiles drew a fortifying breath, truthfully he didn't feel up to either let alone the unbinding ritual tonight. He wanted to show his toughness though so he said, "Lunch, I have a feeling I'm going to need the extra strength for a shopping trip with you."

Mary merely gave the younger man a mock scowl and a gentle shove to the drivers seat of the Jeep and said, "Behave you, the best steak in town I think will be a good lunch."

**XXXXXXXXX**

Stiles had to admit that he did feel better after eating the over the top meal. After shopping with Mary however…yeah he was certain he had been right in the first place that the woman was a shop till you drop kinda woman.

The fact that he now had several dress shirts, some dressier t-shirts without logos of superhero's and slacks, as well as a pair of loafers and hiking boots. When he had started to balk at prices and the number of items, Mary had reminded him of her dress code and said if it would make him feel better she would take it out of his salary along and along.

When informed that she planned on taking him on another shopping trip same time next week. He'd just shut up and gone along for the ride. Then they had picked up a few supplies for the rituals, including the hard to find angelica root.

Followed quickly by making a few calls to the architect in San Jose who said he would be there at the beginning of the next week for a consultation. He had taken her around to the best contractors in town and they had arranged tentative contracts with a few of them.

They had then gone to a tree service and arranged to have the land cleared with the assurances that the land would be cleared only with her supervision. She wanted to keep as many of the trees as possible arranging it so they would keep the drainage as natural as possible to prevent landslides and such.

Those groups were to be onsite the next morning bright and early. Stiles added it to his new agenda along with all of the other information they had gathered. She also informed him they would have to actually be there before the crew to lay out where the house would go and mark that out as well as where wards would go so the crews would know what absolutely had to be cut and what could be left.

Stiles had a pretty good idea from studying a bit with Deaton what wards were but he didn't know how to create them or what was needed to set them. Mary told him that many wards were set like the mountain ash circles and boundaries he had seen before. Then she said, "But these wards will be different. We are going to set them to protect the house and the pack inside. Is there a gun range nearby?"

"The only one I know of is the one my dad and his deputies use." Stiles replied.

Mary nodded and said, "Hand me your agenda," which the teen did. Opening it to the notepad she asked, "Will they let us use it?" she asked as she began sketching something out on the notepad.

"Yeah, dad has taken me out their before, they shouldn't have a problem with it." he responded, as he pulled out and drove the Jeep in the general direction of the gun range.

"So I take it you do know how to use a gun?" Mary said absently as she tried to sketch carefully while Stiles drove.

"Yeah sure he let me use his service weapon, we would do skeet shooting over in a friends field. Used some of the shotguns that the deputies use, have my own 22, I use for hunting but I haven't really done that for a while." Stiles responded before adding for her benefit. "I'm going to be pulling off the main road up here and the road to the range isn't the best, just so you know."

Mary merely smiled in response as she finished the sketch quickly. Once he pulled into the hard packed earth the shooters used as a parking lot, he turned off the Jeep and tried to look at what she had drawn.

Three figure eights drawn inside each other and around two buildings. All inside a much larger tract of land that had a border drawn around it. The only thing that finally made him recognize what she had drawn was the fact that he had seen the tract of land too many times in the past few days as Mary told him her plans over the same time period. "That's the preserve," Stiles said and traced the larger of the two buildings with his finger. "This is Hale House but," he pointed to the other building, "What's this place?"

"That is where I'm going to live and there's also going to be a place where we can practice our magic and when the buildings are done I'm going to move the Nemeton closer so it can be safe." Then the teen traced his fingers over the figure 8's and before he could even ask she explained, "Those are the wards and there will also be one around the Preserve but that one will be less stable because we won't really be able to anchor it to something."

"Now lets see how good you really are," Mary said as she climbed out of the Jeep. Stiles grabbed the big rucksack from the back and walked with her down to the shooting stalls. When he put the rucksack on the ground next to the stall, Mary reached down and unzipped the heavy thing. She stood back up and with a graceful wave at the contents said, "Choose your poison kiddo."

For the next hour and a half they went through an inordinate amount of ammo and nearly 2/3 of the weapons in the bag. His new boss and teacher complimented, scolded and assessed, before stopping him to remind him they had to get ready for the unbinding ritual. He dropped her off at the hotel and per her instructions went home to shower using salt from the kitchen to scrub with instead of his usual shower gel.

He then changed into loose fitting clothes and went back to the hotel to pick Mary up again and they headed into the forest, and hiked to the Nemeton. She was carrying a much smaller bag and they began setting up the ritual by placing candles just so on the tree stump.

A cauldron with the angelica root in it, a bowl of salt, and various other materials were placed around the top of the Nemeton. When everything was set and the time was right, Stiles removed his shirt and shoes and told Mary, "You know the last time I touched this thing, it actually touched me back."

"That was the Nemeton trying to warn you, but you will probably feel it again when the ritual is over. Don't worry, this time it's a positive thing. Go on," she added encouragingly as the teen crawled up on the stump of the tree.

As Stiles arranged himself on top of the stump, Mary began reciting the incantation. The four candles that were set around him began lighting themselves, one by one. Stiles could feel himself getting more and more tense.

Then he felt something that wasn't the tree, thank goodness.

It was something comfortingly warm and safe and there was a scent dark, rich, and earthy but fresh. Like someone turning over new soil and for some reason it felt as if someone had flipped a switch inside of him and he relaxed. To the point of falling asleep while Mary completed the ritual.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**He was running, through the woods, along paths long remembered but his pack was missing, his family gone. The black wolf stopped at a rise where a toppled tree stood, blue eyes glowed as he let out a mournful howl. Only to be answered by another wolves call, the call angered instead of comforted him, this was his territory, the territory of his pack. Who was trespassing in their territory? **

**He followed the call running faster and faster until he crashed into a white wolf, warm whiskey colored eyes playful and amused. Until the black wolf growled warningly, at the other male, even though he knew his blue eyes were glowing, the white wolf merely looked at him. It continued to give him a lupine grin as the brown eyes slowly bled to red. **

**He felt a shiver go through him of recognition, and he bowed his head. Only to have the other come over and using neither tooth nor claw force him down to the ground gently. It began scent marking him thoroughly from nose to tail, and head to claw. It's scent was familiar yet strange. A mix of grass, bees wax, motor oil and old books. Then the white male lay down beside him and though the Alpha was smaller he put his head over the shoulder of the black beta protectively.**

Derek sat up gasping from the dream, his body covered in a fine sheen of sweat that had nothing to do with the balminess of the summer evening or the residual heat left in the loft. He leaned forward elbows on his knees and rolled his head to crack his neck.

He hadn't had one of these dreams since before Boyd and Erica had been killed.

**~X~**

**A grey mist with red eyes glowing out of it had been around the entire pack. Every time one of them had tried to step out of the mist it had thickened in that area as though trying to contain the pack. **

The dream hadn't made sense but he hadn't made sense at the time. Then Boyd and Erica had left and later died. The mist was trying to tell him to keep his Pack close, but he had failed to heed the warning and part of his Pack was dead.

**~X~**

For a split second he half expected Braeden to reach out and touch his shoulder, her gaze assessing. But no Braeden was gone. Almost as soon as they had arrived in town, Malia had arrived at the loft.

His cousin was more than half wild. And Derek wondered why the pack wasn't keeping a closer eye on her, why her Alpha wasn't keeping a better eye on her. Before he could ask, the younger woman ignoring her cousin moved to confront Braeden and asked the former Marshall, "Is it true you tracked and investigated the Desert Wolf?"

"How do you…" Derek had seen Braeden turn her gaze to him suspiciously and his heart had sunk at the lack of trust from a woman he had considered a friend at least.

"Scott's father he's FBI, he had her file in amongst some other stuff." her eyes became distant as she continued. "Stiles feels the need to check on Scott's mom while the Alpha and the rest of the pack are away at Lacrosse camp."

"Why didn't you go with them or stay with your adoptive father, for that matter why didn't Stiles go with them?" Derek asked.

"I have nothing in common with them. I don't like school, lacrosse or being part of the pack." She had what appeared to be a grooming kit. She pulled a rather thick file out of it before pouring the remaining contents out on the rather dusty table. Several bundles of cash.

"The file is the one that Scott's dad had and the cash is to hire you. I want you to find my mother. I want you to find the Desert Wolf." Malia said heatedly.

After that Malia became a little more erratic, while Braeden made several phone calls. Derek had found some canned meat and a few other things which he'd thrown together for his cousin to eat. When he asked her about Stiles again, she had mentioned the two of them visiting her father a couple of times, but not much else.

Remembering what Braeden had told him about her obsession with the Desert Wolf, Derek had his own suspicions about her motives for helping his cousin find her mother. After Malia had eaten an entire canned ham, a gallon of water and the rest of the meager contents of his pantry he had tried to warn her.

He suggested that she wait for the rest of the Pack to return and maybe talk to Stiles and her Peter, he didn't expect the near violent reaction he got for his advice.

Clearing the table with one arm, Malia growled angrily, "I'm not a Hale, or your mother wouldn't have sent me away without even telling my father I existed. I'm not Pack or Scott wouldn't have left me behind with my psycho father and the hapless human. So don't try to tell me what I should and should not do…" Any kind of conversation between the three had degenerated from their.

Braeden and Malia were focused on their quest to find the Desert Wolf. Derek felt the remains of his already damaged heart shred a little more as he watched the woman he had learned to trust walk out of the loft with one of the three remaining members of his family and knew that short of brute force there was nothing he could do to stop them.

Knowing he probably wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep after the strange dream, the werewolf got up and paced over to the table. He was tired, the trip with Braeden had been a long one and not the most comfortable. Scott, Kira, and Liam, as well as Mason and Brett who while not officially Pack members, were part of their group. The news that they were all away from the territory was something he couldn't fathom.

Alphas and Packs were usually a lot more territorial and were very reluctant to travel far from home. Obviously the trip wasn't mandatory or Stiles would have gone as well. It didn't really make sense.

Of course Scott was an unconventional Alpha to say the least. Just as he had always been a rather unique werewolf. Derek had always admired that morality and strength of will in Scott. Now he was beginning to wonder.

Not that he wanted the position back, not by any means. When he had told his Uncle he didn't care about the power, he hadn't lied about that. Scott had left members of his Pack behind. A pack divided was a pack weakened, vulnerable. Malia hadn't said anything about Lydia or Deputy Parrish either. Nor had she mentioned anything about Scott's mother, the Sheriff, or Chris Argent.

Derek felt a driving need an imperative to check on those who hadn't gone with Scott McCall. Pulling his trainers back on and slipping into his hoodie rather than his leather jacket, Derek headed into the night. At this time of night during the summer there would be more teens and twenty-somethings out wandering around. A young man out jogging around town in the cooler hours of the evening would hardly draw attention.

First was Argent he was closest, he was careful not to trip alarms or traps but still didn't get very close. He didn't have to, there were no heartbeats and the general air of neglect gave him the clue that no one had been here since they had last seen him in Mexico.

Next came Lydia, the young woman was awake and inside with her mother they were discussing plans for a party she was apparently throwing for Deputy Parrish the next night if the decorations and banner were any indication. Otherwise she seemed fine. Then there was Melissa McCall, the equivalent of Pack Mother she was asleep her heart rate and breathing even and her ex-husband was in the house. Working if the sounds of shuffling papers was any indication.

The Stilinski household was empty, and that had Derek more than a little concerned. Without Scott here Stiles would usually be home, playing video games, watching a movie, doing research. His Jeep was gone though. Derek went to check on the remaining pack members at the Sheriff's station.

The Beacon Hills Sheriffs Department looked surprisingly busy for this time and that really piqued his curiosity and concern. He was able to detect the Sheriffs voice talking to his men. Apparently there was some kind of serial killer on the loose or at least they suspected so and were waiting for confirmation from the State Police Crime Lab.

He heard Parrish say something to the Sheriff and felt his concern for them ease enough to zero in on locating the missing member of the Pack.

Of course he could go in there and let the Sheriff know he was back from his trip and was just touching base with everyone. But considering the previous trouble he'd had with the department he didn't think it would be a good idea. Especially when they were looking for another killer just when he returned to town. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

Instead he headed back to the home where he spent more time climbing through the second story bedroom window of a certain teen than using the front door if truth be told. He picked up the gym bag, old work out clothes that held the scent of grass, sweat, motor oil from that old rattle trap of a Jeep and a small amount of blood. Sure he had a pretty good place to start and started to crawl back out the window when he noticed something he had never noticed before.

Wooden carvings, one was completed and carved of some kind of dark almost black wood, it was about six inches high and several inches longer and had painted accents. The competed wolf statue was placed on a higher shelf undoubtedly to keep it from getting broken. The wolf it depicted was black, the detail was incredible, painted mouth, nose, eyes and claws were depicted. The wolf was snarling at something, the image was powerful and all too familiar.

The next wolf was incomplete and showed a deep reddish brown carving. This one was standing and appeared to be howling but the detail and personality wasn't there. There were several other pieces of wood on the shelf, some of them were just that pieces of wood. Others were just starting out and had no real form to them yet. Derek put the carvings back on the shelves before crawling back out the teenagers open window. More determined than ever to try and find the teen before sunrise.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**The white wolf woke alone but he wasn't concerned for the beta. He would return when he was ready. In the meantime he had work to do. She was making a Pack house and safe places for the Pack to make den. So was he.**

**He was determined to make more den areas. Making sure the pack would be safe and healthy, that was what he intended before he called them. The new Alpha was good but he was limiting the Pack and that would never do. What was coming was much too big for just the few numbers of his friends Pack.**

**He needed an Alliance or two and the new Alpha was determined to make that possible as he crawled into the cave he had been heading for when he had heard the other wolves mournful howl and had answered.**

**He smelt the taint of old blood and wolfs bane and avoided the area where the taint was to crawl to the back of the cave to begin enlarging it. Digging carefully to ensure against cave-ins, he would return when and if he ever had free time in his human form to collect the tainted soil and purify it of the wolves bane and shore up where he was digging to prevent any accidents. The blood would be of great value to him for what was to come, he thought and then set his wandering mind to the task at hand for as long as he could. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N~ Things are about to get even more interesting. Please continue to review, it makes me right better, if not faster. Thank you to everyone who has followed and reviewed. I really love you all and appreciate it greatly. ~A**

**Chapter 11**

Stiles awoke both exhausted and exhilarated. It was close to dawn and the damp and chill in the air wouldn't help the stiffness he felt already before he even moved off of the stump that had once been the powerful Nemeton. He turned his head and tried to find his mentor.

His heart stuttered and he tried to call her name only to have his voice come out in a quiet croak. He finally caught sight of her and it didn't soothe him. She was sitting on the ground leaned up against a fallen tree that some former party goers or make out artists had dragged closer to the burn barrel. Her arms laid at her sides and her head was leaned forward, her hair fallen to cover her face.

His body sluggishly worked to get over to the side of the stump as he tried to maneuver to reach his Mary. He swallowed several times to work up enough moisture to actually be able to make sound. He started to call her name softly as he managed to sit up on the side of the tree stump. He felt the pins and needles in his legs as he stood up and then immediately his legs went out from under him.

He managed to get back up to his hands and knees and crawl toward his mentor, still calling her name. Finally he reached for her shoulders and shook her gently, as he said desperately, "Mary, come on, don't do this to me. Mary please, please wake up."

A gasp and her head snapped up and drawing a deep breath, she stared into his eyes and whispered, "Sweet little cub." She drew in several deep breaths and cupped his face in her hands as she said, "You look better," she gave a weak smile and asked, "How do you feel?"

Stiles assessed himself for a few seconds before he said, "Tired, sore, stronger, hungry."

"Well, of course, you're hungry. You're always hungry, you're a teenager. Plus you're awake now and hate to tell you, kiddo but your metabolism isn't going to level out for a while." The pair smiled at each other and both pushed themselves up to sit on the trunk of the tree behind them.

Followed quickly by Mary squeaking out an "Eep!" as she fell over backwards off the log and began to giggle wildly.

"Hey that's my line," Stiles said as he began to laugh hysterically and then he was on the ground beside her and both of them were laughing uncontrollably for several minutes.

It was several minutes more before they were able to gather enough strength to make their way out of the clearing in the direction of Stiles Jeep. Stiles once again was carrying the duffle as they made their way through the woods but both of them were still bone tired and sore. So there were several stops made.

On the third stop they looked at each other and Mary asked, "So how far do you think we've come?"

Stiles looked around for a quick second and said with a huff, "Not even a third of the way."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she said in a frustrated tone, "O.K. to hell with this." Her eyes went a little unfocused and she muttered something under her breath, seemed to recite it three times. Almost immediately a cooling mist began to fall, Mary pushed herself up the side of a tree and said, pointing to their right and said, "That way, ten yards," The teen took her arm and steadied her as he followed her directions.

Soon he felt like he was pushing through something like wet tissue paper but cold, slimy and he felt an impressive amount of goose flesh raise over his entire body. When it was over he looked up in the half light of dawn and realized he was now about ten feet away from his Jeep. His Baby never looked so good.

After helping Mary into the passenger seat and throwing the duffle in the back. Stiles climbed in the drivers seat, "Where to first Boss Lady?"

"Find a place with good breakfast this time of the morning. You did say you were hungry. Then we take a nap at the hotel till closer to our ten o'clock with those contractors you recommended. Go to the RV renters after lunch and rest again till Parrish gets off at four and have the conversation with his jinn." she laughed tiredly, "Then if we have the energy before you go home for the evening, I want to assess your power levels after the unbinding has settled."

The boy nodded as he turned the wheel at the first intersection to head toward the center of town. They came to one of the 24 hour breakfast places and he pulled into the parking lot. Mary caught his arm though before he could get out of the Jeep and she handed him an envelope. Inside was a wad of cash that could choke a horse. She reminded him when he looked up at her dazed, "The bank did say that it would take one or two paychecks before the direct deposit was properly established. I don't want you walking around with no money until that starts working so…think of this as a signing bonus." She smiled at him and said, "A little carrying around money."

"Mary, this is five thousand dollars. That's not carrying around money, it's a down payment on a house." he said and yep the arm waving was going on, even if he was dead tired.

"So pay off your house, pay off your bills, buy those clothes we talked about, or fix your car. It's your money Stiles, it's the professional thing to do." she said as she climbed out of the Jeep and looking back said, "Now come on, I'm suddenly starved, I know you are too and I want to eat before we crash."

Stiles nodded and joined her, grabbing a blazer from the back of the Jeep he hadn't really worn since his freshman year. It actually looked good with the red t-shirt and black jeans he was wearing. He stuffed the envelope in the inside pocket of the jacket as he walked a little faster so he could open the door for Mary and an elderly couple who had pulled in after them.

Mary waited for him and he took her arm and led her to the counter as he recognized the waitress there. "Ms Sharon where would you like us this morning?" he said as he looked around at a couple of truckers and a few older men who liked to congregate here for the good coffee and lively talk with their cronies.

"Stiles, hey sweetie haven't seen you in a while. You can sit anywhere, we're still running fairly light and most of these folks are just here for the coffee." the older redhead said as she indicated the entire restaurant.

Stiles walked Mary to a back booth as he threw over his shoulder, "Two coffees and two waters please."

"Coming right up sugar," she said as she slid the check under the side of one of the truckers plates with a friendly smile.

The pair slid into opposite sides of the booth and Stiles took two of the menus and handed one to Mary with a grin. She smiled back at him and shaking her head in amusement said, "I take it this place is a personal favorite?"

"Oh yeah, definitely they have great curly fries, incredible chili cheese fries, their crispy scattered hash all the way is literally the bomb and then for desert they have this Reese's cup pie…" he made a great production of wiping his face with a handful of napkins and said, "sorry drool overload." Mary burst out laughing very loudly and it drew all the patrons eyes to the pair.

Both of them ducked their heads and Mary hissed with a huge grin, "You did that."

"Huh uh, I didn't laugh, you did." the boy snarked with a cheeky grin.

Ms. Sharon came over with their waters and coffee mugs, she quickly said, "Leaded or unleaded?"

"Leaded please, and she'll need milk as well." Stiles requested as he pushed the sugar dispenser over to Mary. The woman put several spoonfuls of sugar in the cup before the waitress came back with the carafe and filled their cups. "So you two know what you want?" she asked.

"I think I'll need a few minutes," Mary said as she opened the menu to look at the bewildering amount of food available. "Any suggestions?" and then quickly held her hand up to Stiles with a grin, "besides potatoes and pie?"

"Ah you mean besides Stiles four favorite food groups when his dads not around?" the redhead said nudging the boys shoulder. Seeing the interested expression on the other woman's face she explained, "Grease, caffeine, sugar, and starch." This time Mary caught the laugh in both hands but still kind of snorted.

When she finally settled down she waved her hands a little like Stiles and agreed, "Yeah besides that."

"Depends on if you want breakfast or not, if you do the omelet's are all really good this morning. For you Stiles, Sam is here and we have the fixings for praline pancakes. If you want something a little more savory let me know." the waitress said, while helpfully turning the menu to the two breakfast items she had suggested.

Stiles grabbed another handful of napkins drying his face as he whispered worshipfully, "Praline pancakes. I'll have a double order please, and bacon."

"Western omelets, crispy hash fully loaded, no tomato in either please, I'm allergic, and bacon and grits." Seeing Stiles impressed look she smirked and said, "What? I did say I was starving."

"Ok so I'm tired of talking about business and magic. Let's talk about you and your friends," she asked. "Lets see no talking about other naturals. You are seventeen or eighteen now?" she asked curiously.

"I'll be eighteen mid-December." Stiles supplied easily. "Best friend, Scott McCall, basically my brother except for a slight matter of genetics."

"Ah yes that, a matter of technicalities," Mary said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "How long have you known each other then?"

"Since we were about four I think," Stiles said cheerfully. They continued their discussion, ate their dinner and went and took their nap. Then managed to rent an RV and speak to the contractors with one or two making enough of an impression to be called back at a later time. They rested in her room this time, on the two separate beds as her RV wouldn't be sent over till the next day.

All the while unaware they were being observed.

That evening they headed over to a part of the Sheriff's station that was being remodeled due to the recent damage from the explosions and security issues the town council and State had agreed to loosen the purse strings and pay for some upgrades.

The Sheriff had agreed to let them use the quiet space for their, for lack of a better word, séance. Mary and Stiles were using the few minutes before Parrish arrived to set up a few things and prepare.

Mary was running through the ritual for Stiles for the third time. Even though she was fairly sure the teen had gotten the thing down the first time. She was leery of possessions, the creature who Stiles had started calling the hitchhiker, she had always considered unpredictable. The jinn were always a fickle lot, they could be protective of their host and the next willing to literally throw their benefactor under a bus.

The teen realizing what was going on, gave the older woman a one armed hug and said, "It'll be fine. We know what we're doing."

Parrish came in a moment or two later. Stiles had the deputy remove his gun belt and shoes. He then explained to Jordan that while they would be calling the jinn out of him. Parrish would be awake, aware and be able to talk to the jinn if he wanted to. He took a silver chain and wrapped it around the young deputies wrists loosely.

Then he walked out of the circle and with a smooth action closed it behind him. Mary started to say something when they heard a door slam somewhere and the clicking of heels coming in their direction. Parrish said, "There's no way, I never…"

"Aw, crap," said Stiles. While Mary just looked baffled.

When a vaguely familiar petite redhead whipped aside some of the plastic tarping used to separate the work areas. "So this is what's more important than meeting me for the party I spent weeks planning," she said with a little bit higher pitch than was needed.

Stiles felt the need to step in, "Actually your party doesn't start for another three hours, Lydia,"

"That's not the point, Stiles," Lydia said waspishly, looking past him to the older woman with a sneer. "The fact that he would rather spend his off time with you and your new girlfriend, than with me is."

"Enough!" Mary roared, even Parrish looked a little worried because there was a light trembling in the walls when she had yelled. Lydia opened her mouth as though to scream back, but nothing happened.

"What, did you think you were the only one who could yell?" said Mary rudely, "or just the only one who something would happen if you did?" When Lydia still couldn't say anything, Mary merely smiled and said, "I don't like my reputation impugned. Stiles has said that you are a sweet, highly intelligent, young lady. So far I have seen nothing to indicate the former or later, so I'm hoping to see at least some of the intelligence.

When Lydia merely huffed and turned to walk out the door, Stiles mentor said harshly, "Walk out that door now and I guarantee that spell will never be broken, and you'll never make another sound as long as you live."

Lydia halted in her tracks and Mary after handing Stiles the card with the incantation on it continued, "Whereas if you stay and sit quietly you may learn something. After this ritual I will break the spell and you may leave at your leisure. Your choice."

Lydia looked at the woman suspiciously and then glared at Stiles. The teen shrugged his shoulder and said, "You were rude Lydia both times she's met you. And yes she is absolutely capable of doing what she says."

The young redhead pulled out another chair and after brushing off the, seat she sat down and watched what they were doing. Setting a stone with a few arcane symbols on it on the outside of the circle, "Rosetta Stone in place," she said.

"What, seriously?" Stiles said, looking at Mary incredulously.

"It's a Jinn, Stiles. I doubt it speaks English fluently, and my Pashti is rusty and my Kirdu never was very good. Plus if Ms. Martin is as clever as you say. It will even interpret her thoughts as best as it can," she added.

Stiles stared at her a moment longer before saying, "Yeah, okay but Rosetta stone? Seriously?" He rolled his eyes, just before he started the incantation.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Sometime after a field went up around the deputy. He gasped a little painfully as a shadowy form gently pushed its way clear of his chest. It then looked up at them, the fiery sockets looking at each of them. It studied the shield for a moment before speaking, it's eyes narrowed, "You are friends of Parrish?" It's voice crackled and hissed and was very much the sounds of a fire

Before either of them could say anything Jordan replied for them, "Yes, they are my friends?"

"Then they have nothing to fear from me. You showed me humans protect those weaker than you, those who cannot protect themselves. We, some of us do that too. You did that for my family. We tried to protect you and you were trying to protect us." he said and it was obvious that he was glad to have the opportunity to explain things to the man.

"Do you know what happened to your family?" Jarrod asked seriously.

The jinn's expression did not change, and really no one there was certain if he could change his expression much. He seemed to focus on Parrish again and said, "The…you called him warlord of the area was a jinn possessed, an evil jinn. Like humans, wolfs and other creatures there are good and bad jinn. He declared war in our region because there were several tribes of good jinn there."

"After he had sent a poison to infect our people, it made it easier for his men to target the jinn. My family were too weakened by the poison to survive the attack of the warlords men." He continued, "You were the only one of your men to survive the attack. We were both weakened, wounded. Separately neither of us would survive, together we would both survive."

It gave a reasonable facsimile of a shrug before turning to Stiles, he stared at the young man for several minutes, then past him to Mary and then finally it's gaze settled on Lydia before it said, still staring at the titian haired Banshee, "You have such beautiful, fascinating creatures here. It's never boring. There are times that I think that the jinn only fight each other because they are bored and there is nothing else to do."

The jinn had grown to match Parrish in size but when it turned back to the deputy now it shrank back down to the size of the boy he remembered, "Are you going to try to expel me? They can do it." he said indicating the woman and young man.

"You are Aurvat aren't you? Or is that your real name?" Parrish asked with a healthy dose of suspicion.

"Not my real name but yes I am who you remember as Aurvat," said the smaller form.

Lydia suddenly waved wildly, and then her voice was heard asking, "How old are you? You look big then small, then like a kid?"

"In human terms I am much older than I appeared to Parrish, in Jinn terms the age I would appear to be would be more like your friend there," it said indicating Stiles. "Though in terms of power for the Jinn I am back to the age of the image you saw in the desert," it said to Parrish.

"Not confusing in the least," said Stiles with quiet sarcasm before he asked, "What weakened you?"

"I had been poisoned first, I received the strongest dose next to my father. We were trying to protect my mother and sister. Females are becoming fewer because of the evil ones killing them off if they won't accept the claim. The good jinn hold the females in high regard and do their best to protect them." the jinn's voice became softer and sadder as it continued, "That is why I looked so much younger than my sister when we first met. In truth I was the older of us."

"Saving you the first time was much harder, than it was the second time.. establishing the bond between us was actually the harder part…it is harder to explain."

"You had never done that before," Lydia's mental voice made it a statement instead of a question. The jinn snapped around to look at her in what was definitely surprise as it nodded.

"You didn't quite do it right, did you?" Lydia asked looking at him curiously as she dared to rise from the chair and step closer to the circle to study. "You're. stuck now aren't you? You can't survive on your own."

"You are very wise. I see why he likes you, and he thinks you kind because of you helping him to find out about me." the Jinn said growing to a larger form again, as it continued to explain. "I was afraid he would want to rid himself of me, once he found out the truth. But now I can show him what we can become and how we can protect you all and how I can protect him from harm."

Turning back to face Parrish, Aurvat said, "May I show you? It will take practice to maintain and to start we will both tire easily but I want to….."

"Show off," Stiles said helpfully.

"Yes," it said before, touching the deputies hand and flowing up his body to settle itself over him like a second skin and then fiery wings seemed to sprout out of Jordan's back. A sword grew from his hand and the fire settled into him except for the sword, wings and fiery eyes.

Then Stiles closed his eyes and a silvery liquid pooled near the base of the shield to one side before climbing up the inside of the shield to form a mirror of sorts. Jordan gasped in surprise and amazement as he reached up to touch his face just below his eyes. He glanced over at Lydia self-consciously, only to find the Banshee smiling.

"Beautiful," came her voice.

The jinn's voice said, "As I said very wise,"

"Typical teenager," Mary said with a smirk, "At least you both have the same taste in women, deputy."

"Awkward, Mary," Stiles said over his shoulder. "Very awkward."

Lydia snorted and looking over at her friend she said, "Ok fine you're re-invited."

Stiles smiled sheepishly and admitted, "Sorry made other plans. Got some studying to do. Then he looked at his phone and said, "Speaking of which, unless you want to be late for your own party, we better finish this up."

**XXXXXXXXX**

Derek walked back towards the Preserve. He needed a run to clear his head. He had been spying on Stiles and the woman, off and on all day. Ever since he had managed to track them to the Nemeton. Derek wasn't quite sure why he was so fascinated with Stiles. Why he had always been fascinated with Stiles? Skinny, defenseless Stiles. Not skinny came the wolfs answer and not defenseless, never defenseless and if it was true and he was developing magical skills even less so.

Hyperactive spaz continued the inner monologue. Hyperactive yes but more focused than even Derek himself and no he wasn't a spaz, he never had been. Loyal to the exclusion of all else, including his own safety, to a terrifying extent..

Useless, never that the boy…no man was a soldier, a planner, truly selfless, Derek had been intimidating, threatening, downright rude to the younger man. Instead of running and hiding, Stiles had turned right around and gotten in Derek's face, he had even faced down Peter at his craziest. Derek slowed as he grew closer to the loft, only to sense another presence there. Apparently someone had been dumping in the area again. As for a moment he couldn't really tell who was there, due to the awful smell.

Finally he recognized the familiar voice and Derek was grateful as he realized it was Braeden's voice he was hearing, ah a lovely distraction. He thought as he rode the elevator up, something to take his mind off of Stiles.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N~ So this is the last of this the second chapter. Flame to a Blaze. Stiles power is growing and its only been a few days of his association with his mentor Mary. What will happen next. Please continue to review.****Let me know what you think of my version of Stiles being a bad ass. ~A**

**Chapter 12**

Stiles had finished up the spell and released the circle. While Lydia and Jordan had headed on to the party. He had then driven Mary to her hotel, only to have his mentor scold him for not attending the party. "You know you are still a teenager Stiles. Your meant to have fun."

"Yeah maybe, but this is still Beacon Hills and since we've already been kind of sacrificing to the Nemeton… you know giving it back some of that energy, the beacon is active." he explained a little haphazardly. "So it would be better to stay on my toes, and do the prep work I need to, rather than slacking a little. Besides I have a feeling other than Lydia and Jordan I won't know anyone at the party anyway."

He had already explained to her about everyone leaving him at home for the summer. Mary had called him on it when he tried to play it off as something to be expected, she had detected the heat and sadness in his voice.

The fact that after he had dropped her off his Jeep automatically made the round of Scott, Liam, Malia, and Kira's homes, he tried not to think about too much. Yeah none of them was supposed to be home yet, but he wanted to make sure their homes and families were safe. Not bothering to drop in on Malia's or Kira's family as they seemed to already be in bed for the evening.

He did stop in to visit Melissa for a few minutes doing little things for her like take out the garbage check all the windows for the placement of mountain ash, and magical locks Deaton had set, that sort of thing. Then he headed out to the Loft. In Derek's case, it was more a matter of making sure everything was locked up and secure until the former Alpha returned from wherever he and Braeden had disappeared to after Mexico. He was shocked to find the werewolves SUV in the parking area.

Even though he had promised himself a study session this evening Stiles pulled into the parking lot and turned off his Jeep. He went into the industrial building and climbed the stairs. Normally the teen would use the elevator, but one of the first things he did after the others had left for camp was to clear the stairs of debris.

Derek had wanted to leave the debris to fool others into thinking that no one actually lived there. That had worked a little too well as evidenced by the neon rave that had been put on by Danny. Stiles and the rest of the pack hadn't really been able to do anything about the party without giving away some of the details about the goings on amongst their pack.

So Stiles had cleared the stairs and was now using them to surprise Derek. He wondered if the current elder of the Pack had even noticed the change. Okay yeah the healthier choice of the stairs to reach the third story showed him just how out of shape he was. He decided he needed to start using some of his ever shrinking free time to get back in shape before school started and Coach tried to run them into a smear on the grass.

Stiles reached the door and heard a groan, thinking the worst he quickly slammed the loft door back. Only to find Braeden on top of Derek on top of the table. He opened his mouth to say something when she lifted her head from Derek's chest and looked at him with a wordless shriek showing several rows of razor sharp teeth and blood dripping from her maw.

Without thought Stiles slammed a fist at the woman from across the room throwing her off of Derek and into one of the lofts pillars. The magical attack stunned her, or it as Stiles was fairly certain the Braeden looking thing was the lamia his dad was looking for. Which also made him more than a little scared for Derek's well-being, running down the short set of steps to the table. He saw a bloody but still breathing Derek

His chest was a bloody mess of hamburger and bone and Stiles nearly missed the movement out of the corner of his eye, but with a sweeping motion threw the lamia into another pillar. All the while trying to remember what Mary had said would be effective in killing the lamia.

He tried to not think about what he was trying to scoop back into the werewolf's chest cavity and then he remembered the part about the skin. Although in the gathering dusk it was hard to tell, he knew Braeden's boots and belt looked like some kind of animal skin.

With a hand wet with the blood from Derek's chest, Stiles threw up two circles at once. One to protect Derek and the other to keep the lamia from escaping the loft and potentially getting out to kill or wreak more havoc than had already happened.

"You are not killing anymore of my friends, you bitch." he hissed through clenched teeth as he tried to send enough of his own energy into Derek to jump start his own healing power.

There was a hissing laugh and the thing said, "Who is really the bitch? You are the one who runs with the wolves."

"How did you fool anyone with that voice?" Stiles said keeping it distracted while he tried to figure out which item was it's skin. Braeden's habit of wearing leather was making this more of a challenge than he would wish for. As he had noticed her leather jacket and purse discarded on a nearby table but it was what she was currently wearing that would have given her the ability to change her shape.

The question meant as a distraction gave him the answer though. As the lamia reached for her belt for a second in a self conscious manner. It answered him, "I can do just fine when I'm in a seductive mood," in Braeden's kittenish tones. "But you prefer were's don't you?" and suddenly Malia stood in Braeden's place staring at him as she flashed her blue eyes."

Stiles shook his head in denial as his shoulders hunched and he stepped back to grasp onto Derek's leg for support. Suddenly he remembered Mary's voice, "It can only take the shape of it's victims." Malia and Braeden were lying somewhere dead in the woods.

"Or is it just one were, in particular?", it said back to the guttural tones it had used before. Then it shifted to Derek's form and Stiles felt his legs crumble under him. Except he was holding on to Derek's leg, his warm leg. Groping a little he moved his hand up to grab at the werewolves wrist, and his fingers floundered a bit before he found what he was looking for, a pulse. Sluggish and what Melissa would call thready but still a pulse.

"Come on I can give you what you want most in the world before you die and you know this is the only way you will ever get him." The lamia said, or tried to say. It couldn't quite get the voice, so it was back to using the hissing tones that were no where near Derek's voice.

Stiles opted for snark, "Oh my God, you really think you would pass for Derek? Honestly? Braeden would know better, hell even Malia wouldn't fall for…," he made an all encompassing gesture for the lamia as he stepped toward the barrier. "this."

"Hah, even I can smell you from here, and as for the kissing," he gave a mock shudder, that was a little more real than he intended, as he continued, "Seriously?"

The creature after looking insulted for a split second it had managed to return to its previously seductive look with a hint of anger in its gaze as it replied, "And yet you are feeling loving, I can smell it on you."

"I'm feeling loving and affectionate as you put it because I have the real deal right behind me."

"But I'm the one in front of you, the one you're watching," the lamia said, still in it's gravelly voice that sounded nothing like Derek.

'Yeah, you're the one in front of me, and you've killed at least four of my friends and tried to kill my werewolf." Stiles said angrily.

"Yes and that reminds me. I don't understand why you seem to be in the memories of everyone that I've been in the past several months. In various degrees of course, but why are you so important to so many people? Why are you so special?" It said a little too curiously, as it stared him up and down.

"Just why do you think being in front of me is the safest place for you to be, you useless snake?" Stiles asked as he started to pull as much power as possible from around him.

The Derek faced lamia sneered at him, "You're the useless one, the pathetic one, the only positive thing about you," it said with some consternation, "is you would probably draw more prey than any pretty face I could find to use."

A voice from behind Stiles said, "Not useless, never useless." weakly.

The lamia was distracted by that voice and with a roar Stiles lunged forward through the barrier he had created, breaking it roughly. He slammed his empowered left fist into the jaw of the Derek look-a-like, he used his right to yank the belt from around its waist. He jumped back only to discover apparently he had knocked the thing out.

Grabbing the purse he moved back to the wolf quickly. Searching through the purse desperately for a lighter, "Come on, come on, need a light, need a light." Finally in desperation he dumped the bag out on the table beside Derek's hip.

Using his right hand to sift through the stuff from Braeden's bag, the teen reached with his left hand to pat the werewolves hip absently. "Don't die on me big guy," he said with rough affection and desperation. "Come on Braeden why can't you be one of those bad girls who chain smokes?"

He nearly shrieked when a firm grip stilled his left hand, "Stiles pocket," said a grim, breathless voice, "lighter, hurry. Waking up."

Without even looking up at the werewolves face, Stiles fingers snaked into the pocket and pulled the lighter out and flipped it open. A roar behind him had him turning to face the charging lamia head on, instinctively his foot came up to slam into the torso of the lamia which no longer looked human at all. He kicked out flinging the thing back to the floor as he flicked the lighter on and set it to the belt. The thing lit up quickly and in response so did the lamia.

The short screaming conflagration that followed for some reason reminded him of the night they had killed Peter the first time. When he heard the popping noise he remembered this lamia was mimicking Braeden the arms expert, he flung himself over the wounded Derek. Then despite the pain he knew it would cause pushed with his feet to shove the table over, spilling the pair of them over on the other side.

Thus shielding the pair from the explosion that followed. Somehow Derek ended up on top of him on the other side. When it was over, he lifted the werewolves head from his chest where it had landed only to see the ashen faced wolf barely breathing. Shoving carefully the rapidly tiring Spark was able to shove the werewolf off of him and onto his back on the floor.

Forcing more healing energy into the wound as he desperately tried something Mary had told him he would eventually be able to do but had never tried before. He could feel himself weakening by the second as he called desperately, "Mary, please I need your help, please, please. Mary help me save Derek."

There was a roar, behind them near the loft doors. The door was flung open and there stood Mary in sock feet and pajama clad, she sketched a symbol in the air and the wards around the loft fell before her. As he lost consciousness Stiles whispered, "Save him."

**XXXXXXXXX**

Stiles rose from the darkness gradually but peacefully. He had the strangest dual sensations the pinch at his right inner elbow of an IV and yet no smell of cleansers and antiseptic he was used to in a hospital. Plus there was an over warm sensation of another body right next to him. A head resting on his left shoulder, breath tickling his throat there. The murmur of voices nearby, and then a familiar voice said softly, "Stiles is waking now and the wolf is beginning to rouse as well although more slowly. The fluids have helped both a great deal, thank you Ms. McCall. Please consider what I said about the clinic and treatment area I discussed at the Hale House, I think both would be beneficial. Now shall we see to our troublesome pair?"

A weight that smelled of his fathers favorite cologne caused the mattress of the bed he was lying on near his right hip to lower. He raised his eyelids then slammed them shut again against the sunlight. "Easy cub, give me a minute," he heard a curtain being pulled into place. "Try now, Stiles" Mary's voice said soothingly.

More cautiously this time the teen raised his lids to find his father staring at him anxiously, "Son?" the older man said and his voice was too loud. Stiles flinched slightly but tried manfully not to let his eyes tear up in pain. A hand closed around his bare foot and the pain leeched away much as it would if Scott would use his healing power on him. Looking down he saw Mary's gentle affection rather than his besties puppy look.

"Magical overload" Mary explained, helpfully, "You pushed yourself too far," she said, "Think of it as a hangover without the pleasure of drinking."

Stiles mouth moved but no sound came out, "That would be your bodies defense, no spell casting for 72 hours, no talking for twenty four. You're going to feel up to moving in a few hours, but I think we won't be getting much accomplished today.. Some water I think Sheriff."

When Stiles father released his hand to take the water from Melissa McCall's fingers Stiles took the opportunity to make grasping fingers at Mary. "I was hoping you wouldn't remember that part, cub. Using it won't help your hangover at all," she said, warningly. As she pulled the stone out of the air and placed it at the foot of the bed as the body lying next to him moved slightly and then groaned loudly.

Stiles flinched hard and then he groaned just as loudly. "It's your wolf, yes he is still alive, thanks to you." Stiles didn't move his body but his voice came out of nowhere startling the Sheriff so badly he nearly dumped the water on his son's bare chest.

"Is he healing? The wound is it.." then he flinched again as a lance of pain went through the center of his head.

Mary reminded him gently, "Limit your words Stiles. In this instance babbling, even mentally is not your friend. He will recover and very well thanks to you."

"The lamia?" the voice said out of thin air and it was clear that both the Sheriff and Ms. McCall were both a little freaked out by it.

"The lamia is nicely crispy and looking like any other human ashes, we're still trying to come up with explaining how it's the murderer though, let alone how it became so crispy." Mary explained in a frustrated tone.

"Braeden, she had incendiary grenades that would do that," Derek's voice said from right under Stiles ear. The moist air from the other mans mouth and the proximity of the mouth to his sensitive skin had Stiles shiver slightly.

"Malia and Braeden are both dead, it appeared as both of them, but it became Derek as well, and he's alive." Stiles said flinching as another spike of pain went through his head.

"But it had tasted him. It wouldn't have been able to maintain the appearance for very long. It probably used a lot of energy to do it. I don't know why it bothered." Mary said thoughtfully.

"Yeah it couldn't maintain the voice at all. Stupid thing, wanted me," if his head wasn't already killing him Stiles would have forced a snort at the lamia's stupidity. "It wanted to know why I was so important to everyone."

"Stiles what's wrong with your voice?" Derek asked without moving from where he was apparently comfortable.

Stiles shivered again and looked at Mary pleadingly, she only said in an amused tone, "Both of you nearly dying, you using magic and the lamia and that's what the werewolf in the room wants to know. Really?"

Slapping his palm over his mouth, Stiles voice said, "Not really helping here Mary. How about scrying for Braeden and Malia's bodies? We can put the lamia near Braeden and use the incendiary grenade excuse saying it was set off accidentally when Braeden was trying to protect herself and Malia. Uhnn."

Stiles groaned protractedly and both his father and Derek said, "Stiles?!" worriedly.

"Gotta stop talking now," the boy said.

"You need to rest now, but just out of curiosity how do you know about scrying?"

Mary said with some curiosity.

"Charmed, Mom's favorite TV show." he said before his whiskey colored eyes slid shut again.

**XXXXXXXXX**

The werewolf whined quietly when Stiles eyes had closed. He had actually touched the teens bare chest to make sure Stiles was still breathing. Mary admonished the sleeping form, "We really need to discuss that self-sacrificing attitude and knowing your limits, young man. Not that I think it will change anything but there will be a discussion."

Ms McCall checked her watch and explained, "I'm already late for work, but I'll be back at lunchtime to check on him, them," she said a little sadly. "I'm sorry about Malia and Braeden." she added touching the Sheriff's arm. Knowing how each death especially among the young people they knew weighed heavily on the Sheriff's shoulders.

Mary was gathering the items that were scattered across the floor from the purse Stiles had upended. When she stood and turned to check for any other contents she was surprised to find Mellissa McCall standing there waiting for her. She stiffened in surprise when the woman embraced her in a firm hug, while whispering, "Thank you, for saving them both."

"No I only maintained them until you arrived with your fluids and medical know how. From the sounds of it Stiles did the saving…" Mary prevaricated.

Mellissa shook the other woman slightly and said, "Who taught him how to do that though? It's true what you said though. That boy has always had a self-sacrificing streak a mile wide where those he loves are concerned and zero self preservation where they're concerned too."

"Noticed that, at least he protected the two of them with wards. Otherwise I probably would have wrung his neck. Yep lessons and studying for the next several days, urgh tomorrow I'm supposed to meet the architect. We'll just have to postpone," Mary said then realizing what she was doing she grinned in a horrified manner and said, "Oh my god, Stiles speak is contagious, who knew?"

Mellissa actually laughed in a relieved manner and said, "I have a feeling we're going to become good friends, Ms. Spenser."

"I agree Ms. McCall, but we're making you more late and I don't want you to be in trouble." Mellissa merely patted her shoulder and headed out of the loft door which was jammed open to let the loft air out.

She passed Deputy Parrish on the way in. "They're okay then?" Parrish asked.

Mary nodded, "They both need more rest and fluids but they're out of the woods. I know you have the problem of fingerprints but I was just gathering up the things from the purse. They got scattered somehow during the fight I suppose."

The deputy nodded and said, "Let me help." It was when he found the wallet that they hit the snag. It wasn't Braeden's wallet, it was Malia's.

**XXXXXXXXX**

The Sheriff had brought a topographical map of the area from his patrol car and after they spread it out on the once again upright table. Finding a leather bracelet that the Sheriff said he had seen Malia wear frequently, Mary looped a silver chain through the bracelet and proceeded to scry with it over the map of Beacon Hills.

Unlike previously the map indicated that they would find the remains on the southeast part of town. Parrish pulled up a more detailed map of that section of town on his tablet to help narrow down the location. She explained before scrying on the tablet. "We're hoping we'll find Malia and Braeden together. A little warning though magic and technology don't always mesh well. So hopefully this won't crash your tablet."

They were able to narrow down the location to about 100 yards. Parrish and the sheriff were going to take the lamias remains there. It was obvious that the sheriff was very reluctant to leave his still recovering son behind. Mary said reassuringly, "I'll be here to watch over these two and I'll call you if anything changes. Let me know if you have any luck finding Braeden as well."

The law enforcement officers finally took the ashes which Mary had conveniently boxed up for them to try and find Malia's remains.

Mary walked over to the duo on the large bed. She was gently touching Stiles head for fever when Derek growled at her. To which Mary promptly reached over and swatted the werewolf painfully on the nose.

"Oh no you don't, you bratty little wolf. One you will learn manners, two you haven't claimed him, courted him or even befriended him, as a matter of fact he's convinced you hate him just on principle. So no you don't get to growl over him." she said and she was literally shaking her finger at him furiously, "Three the only reason he is in your bed is he was too weak to move right now. Four considering he was so weak because he just saved your life from someone you thought was your girlfriend, means you absolutely, positively do not get to growl possessively over him you coward. Do it again and I will take a rolled up newspaper to your ass. Do I make myself clear?"

To say that Derek was staring at the older woman wide-eyed and open mouthed was an understatement. When he nodded his head only to have her snap, "Answer me wolf, I can't hear those three brain cells rattling around in that thick skull of yours."

"Yes ma'am," Derek said flinching slightly as he imagined his mother rolling in her grave at his lack of manners. The woman reached over and touched his forehead with her wrist and for some reason her scent calmed him so that he didn't flinch. "You're still a little cool for a werewolf, you need more rest. Go to sleep now."

It was still daylight outside, in truth Derek had no idea what time it was and he wanted to stay awake. He felt the need to stand guard over Stiles for some reason, as he recovered but the woman seeing him stubbornly resisting the call of healing sleep, growled impressively as she said, "Oh you are thick headed aren't you?"

She touched the hand that still rested on top of Stiles chest and suddenly he felt as if a cool fog were drifting across his limbs and up his torso he opened his mouth to say something only to fall asleep mid-sound.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N~ So now we start with the next level of Stiles training and ever increasing awesomeness. Blaze to a Fire. Yep I think I'm channeling my inner Stiles. Please review, my writing improves with every comment you make, I swear. Please continue to read, enjoy, and review. Love you guys. ~A**

**Blaze to a Fire 1**

**Chapter 13**

**The white wolf looked down at the wounded black wolf and huffs. He can't move the larger beta, not far at least and turns to howl into the rising storm. He shuddered with the knowledge this was going to be a bad one. **

**He was about to howl again when a soft bark had him looking to his right as the sleek gray wolf came out of the woods near him. She was not as large as the black wolf either but between the two of them they should be able to move the larger male. **

**Pale changeable green eyes stared at him for a moment before she moved forward and the two scent marked each other. Crawling forward under the front legs of the wounded wolf they managed to get him up and begin moving him toward the den he had been enlarging.**

**His other half really needed to come back and shore up the space but it would survive this storm until the larger dens were ready. Because larger more dangerous storms were coming. He stared into the green eyes of the female, he saw the forest in her eyes as the storm whipped the trees and lightning arced through the sky.**

**He sensed the trouble coming, more enemies. Things that were more dead than alive. The odor of death and old blood so strong even his wolf wanted to empty its stomach. The Reaper must be warned and protected, they were coming. He curled protectively around the black wolf, as the green eyes closed, and reopened into black empty eyes that he fell into. **

**~X~**

Stiles is muttering in the bed, when Mary walks into the loft. She listens in for a moment and hears Stiles say to himself, "Okay so either we both died, which kind of sucks except Derek is here and that means he's my own personal angel. That part is actually kind of great. Except the part where we're dead." he said aloud. "Or maybe I hit my head and this is all a dream. Yeah okay so hit my head, really, really hard and Derek is sleeping on me because…." he reached up and gently stroked his fingers through Derek's hair and down his throat to check his pulse. "And why is Derek sleeping on me, again?"

He nearly jumps out of his skin when Mary brushes his hair with her fingertips, "Why does it not surprise me that you babble even when you can't talk?" she says as she raises the now all too familiar stone to where Stiles can see it, "You still won't be able to talk, talk for several hours but you can get up for short periods. Come and talk to me when you're ready or after Derek wakes up and you have to stop fantasizing about him." she says with a knowing wink at the teen.

Mary ruffles his hair again when he manages to make it to the table where she is sitting on a stool. She holds out what is becoming an all too familiar white carryout box to the younger magic user. "Ok rules are still no magic for another sixty hours at least. No driving or even walking for long distances. Information before you burned it did you notice if the lamias skin had a red stripe on it?"

He thinks for a moment concentrating on the memory of the skin going up in smoke and says, "No, no red that I saw."

"Good," that means it hasn't laid any eggs recently," She says, "but it still doesn't explain why the lamia would go after your friend there. Especially when he is very obviously a werewolf and the lamia actively avoid other supernatural creatures."

They are quietly discussing the possible reasons that the lamia would go after Malia and apparently Derek. They hear a rather loud moan from the bed, Stiles jumps up and is surprised when he is able to call out, "Derek?"

The werewolf is awake and is moving very slowly, still wearing the bloody jeans from the day before. Stiles didn't hover, really he didn't but he does pick the stone up from the foot of the bed and gives it back to Mary surreptitiously as Stiles makes the introductions. "Mary Spenser, this is Derek Hale. Derek Hale this is Mary Spenser, my mentor, employer and the woman who saved your life. So be nice Sourwolf."

"Stiles," the werewolf said sharply.

"Oh please I used magic, to defeat a lamia that was sucking you dry, and you're worried about me calling you Wolf in front of my teacher. Think for a minute idiot." Stiles said his voice a little hoarse.

"I knew your grandmother back in the day, young man. And we will definitely be refreshing your memory about manners, they are a requirement not a suggestion, young man." a flush marred Derek's still too pale face.

With painful politeness, Derek excused himself, "I need to take a shower. Stiles you should tell your father that Braeden and Malia were together, when they headed out."

"We know Derek, the purse the lamia was using, yeah she wasn't paying attention and picked up the wrong one. They're looking for Malia right now. Do you have anything of Braeden's, maybe she left something behind that we can use to scry for her," said Stiles and there was definite sadness as he spoke, "Hell, at this point I'd settle for a piece of tissue to try and work with…"

Stiles gets interrupted when his phone rings.

He looks at his phone and holds up a finger as he answers, "Stillinski." The person on the other end of the phone says something and Stiles says, "Mr. Sands didn't you receive my email about pushing back the date…."

More speaking by the other person, Stiles scowled as he rubbed the area between his brows and responded, "You did, no actually I didn't I've been in…hospital the past couple of days. No, we don't want to wait till October….."

There was more speaking by the architect and Stiles sighed heavily as a full blown headache was forming between his brows. "You're already on your way, I see. No we're not at the Hale House, nor the secondary sight, hold on I'll give you directions." The teen rattled off directions to the loft and got an idea of when Sands would be arriving.

He hung up and looked at Mary and said, "The architect couldn't reschedule, he said he had his secretary send me an email last night. He's on his way right now. It's either see him now or reschedule for sometime in October because he's leaving the country until then to work on some big project in Hong Kong.

"You're rebuilding Hale House?" Derek growled in a shocked tone, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Stiles whose headache was in full bloom and steadily growing, snapped at the former Alpha, "When exactly was I supposed to tell you? When you abandoned your supposed Pack… again? No, that's right I was supposed to call you, on your phone that you never answered. When you got back? Which you never told anyone about. Or when you were screwing your supposed girlfriend who turned out to be the lamia. Which I also would have warned you about if you had bothered to let someone know you were back in town, Or maybe when I was saving your ass from the lamia. Nope you pretty much had a hole in your chest where she had tried to suck your heart out. Imagine her disappointment at finding it was already gone…."

"Stiles," Mary said warningly.

"NO! I'm tired of being disappointed in my pack. Scott and his little wolfie pals running off to God knows where. Abandoning this town to whatever is coming our way. I'm tired of you," he says pointing at the werewolf and said with a dramatic tone, "Derek Hale, supposedly last of the Protectors of Beacon Hills. Except you keep running off. You run off to take care of Cora except she's with another pack now. She doesn't need your protection. So instead you run off with Braeden, run off to who knows where. Run away from…"

Derek is surprised and a little appalled to see rage and the sheen of tears in Stiles eyes as he seems to run out of steam and says, "Actually, you know what I don't even halfway care anymore. Mary we'll do what you said, we'll set up Hale House for them Derek and Scott and whatever of their pack they want but I'm opting out of their Pack." He said staring at Derek with something like disgust or disappointment, "You hear me Sourwolf, I'm out."

With that he drew in a deep breath and said, "I'll go outside to wait for the architect, I need to cool off anyway."

With that he storms out of the loft leaving the door standing open. Slammed right off its heavy track by the Spark. Leaving Mary and Derek facing each other with the werewolf looking shell shocked.

Mary looked at the wolf and drawing a deep breath, "I'd apologize for him, make the excuse that he did just discover he was a Spark, did have his powers unbound, spoke to a jinn and saved a werewolf he likes from being unmanned and unmade by a lamia." The older woman said charmingly, "Said werewolf then having a fit because his Alpha's friend is actually having the family manor remade for him and his Pack." then she said, "Yeah, no I think he actually went easy on you. So yep, sorry no sympathy at all."

"His eyes changed," Derek mumbles numbly.

"Yeah that's the magic, don't worry you'll get used to it, if he ever talks to you again after this.. It doesn't mean he's a demon or anything…." Mary explained.

"No his eyes when he said he was out of the Pack, they bled into Alpha red. How can they, he's not…."

He looked up to see the woman smiling a pleased if mysterious smile, that for some reason made him a little nervous. Stiles came in through the open loft door, "Mary," he said looking between the two before saying "Mr. Sands is here."

The architect comes in behind Stiles, he is a tall slender handsome man in his fifties perhaps, with cheekbones that could cut paper. Blond hair cut stylishly and a business suit. He seems surprised to see there is actually an apartment in the space, and seems a little impressed.

As Derek works to get the heavy loft door back on its tracks. It takes him a moment or two to manipulate the heavy door back onto its track. They go over the plans and she explains what she wants to do with Hale House. "I want to rebuild the house, the structure in appearance being pretty much as before with a few improvements." She then asks Derek, "Do you have any input Mr. Hale? Is there anything that didn't work well previously in Hale House or anything that could be improved for Scott and the rest of the…family?"

He kept his eyes on Stiles who was busy doodling on what looked like a sketch pad. When Derek was less than helpful, being distracted by the teen. Stiles looked up and shook his head before he spoke up, "The wiring needs major improvements beyond the current code, and a set up for WiFi. They'll need a much larger kitchen, at least two more bathrooms and a fireproof safe room in the basement complete with an air circulation system. It needs to be large enough to accommodate at least a dozen comfortably."

When Sands looked condescendingly at the young man and started to argue, "If Ms. Spenser wants to keep the lines of the structure intact, it will be impossible to make such extensive changes….especially the safe room"

The young man stood up and stalked toward the table where they had the plans laid out and snapped, "You do know what happened to the previous occupants, don't you, Mr. Sands?" He pointed at Derek and said with enough venom to make the architect visibly flinch, "His family died in an 'electrical fire' in the house. He, his uncle, and sister are the only survivors, make the changes." Then he tossed the sketch pad down on top of the other blue prints, "and if Mary doesn't mind that's going to be the sister house."

"Sister House," Derek and the architect echoed.

Stiles pulled out the geographical map of the Preserve and pointing to a spot said "It's going to be built here." He said indicating a plot of land at the other end of the Preserve. He looked at Mary with a dark look in his eyes, "We're going to need something bigger than what you had in mind and right now as far from Hale House as possible." He turned back to the architect and said, "Can you work with that?"

"Yes it's a start, can I see the property now."

"Yeah I'll take you," Stiles said.

"No you will not," said Mary sharply, "You are still recovering you will stay here. Mr. Hale is fully recovered he will take us in your baby and you will order something to be delivered later. Yes you may have pizza if you so desire. Meanwhile use your keen brain to figure out why your friend was attacked."

He sneered a little and said, "Not sure you'd call him a friend Mary."

Indicating the architect with a lift of her eyebrow Mary said much more quietly, "He better not be an enemy if you saved his life at risk of your own or I may have to kill him myself cub, just on principle."

Derek, Mary, and the architect head out to Hale House while Stiles relaxes on the couch. He scrubs his face with his hands and yeah he was definitely serious about the whole Pack thing he didn't mind being part of something great.

It was being the one who did the grunt work and didn't get any recognition it was being the one always left behind to get hurt or to save the day but still not even getting a thanks. It was being the one hurting all the time, because of physical pain, mental anguish or just emotional exhaustion because he wasn't sure if anyone except for his dad and Mary would even care if he died.

He felt the sparkle of power under his skin and worked to maintain his control. His anger didn't help, he figured working magic was like driving, don't do it angry or you couldn't predict the results. Especially since he had just gotten his voice back from his last big expenditure of magic and didn't want to lose it again. He didn't have anything to do with music here, so drawing would have to do.

Gratefully he saw that Mary had taken the drawing but had left the sketch pad behind. He rolled up the papers and secured them at the end of the desk by putting paperweights on either side. He then lifted his hips onto the table, slid to the middle and sat Indian style under the giant skylight and began to draw. He was grateful he had remembered the measurements for the lower level. Something they had to find out when they figured out how much water would be needed to fill the loft floor for the fight with the Alpha Pack.

He quickly sketched out the floor plan for the lower level. He had never been to the upper level where Peter's room was, he didn't even know if Peter's stuff was still up there, considering the other wolf now resided in Eichen House. He would have to remember to ask him the next time he went to visit.

He started with the main living area, he moved the bed over between the two windows, and then erased it entirely. He had several more false starts before he took a deep breath. He was angry, he needed to let that go as he could already feel his mind going to dark places that involved filling the space with weapons and traps. His vivid imagination going into the strategist but not in a protective way, well it was, but a little too aggressive for this to be a good place for the pack.

With a sigh he went into the back areas finding a rather rudimentary bathroom, with a basic shower. An area that seemed to be mainly used for a storage area with several boxes that smelled strongly of smoke and ash, it was still half empty though. There was also what appeared to be an empty space behind a wall he figured it might be for mechanicals, piping and so forth. He made a note "kitchen, go through boxes in storage area."

He knew the boxes from the smell of them were from the Hale House and therefore were the property of the Hales. He also figured that they didn't want to go through them, because of the emotional landmines that probably lay within. Stiles while understanding was more concerned with what could help the Pack and keep them safe.

He sat for a moment on the floor and considered how he could find out what was behind the wall of the blank space. Then he remembered that Mary had once told him that the only real way to get the answer, was to ask the question. So he did, hoping that this wouldn't be something that would end up using magic anyway.

Putting his hand on the wall, he said politely, "I know we have put you through a lot the past few years. What with broken windows, okay lots of broken windows, one wild party, a ton of water, lots of fighting and so forth. I'm really sorry but look I…I want to make this a safe place for my pack, even if they have been douches, okay scratch that, anger talking." He said, beginning to ramble, his fallback communication method.

He drew a deep breath and continued, "I need to protect my friends and the wolves who live here," he said leaning forward slightly, "He…they are kind of important to me." he continued and a very clear image of Derek came to him, in the desert town in Mexico. The smile he gave before he had left them there and gone off with Braeden.

He then shook his head, "Don't get distracted. Can you show me what this whole floor looks like. I want to make this a more comfortable living space for the Pack, but especially Derek and I guess Peter if he can prove he's sane enough to get out of Eichen House. Distracted again Stiles."

His head had leaned forward till it was touching the wall, he picked up the pencil and pad and began drawing. "So I don't want to change Peters area in case he comes back. But Derek needs a private space for his room but still kind of open."

"I know wolves have dens but Derek is more an out under the sky kind of wolf than a cave wolf. Probably cause there are times I swear I think he's a throw himself on the atomic bomb kind of guy. Not that I'm saying he's suicidal, although sometimes I wonder. Yep I'm babbling again, sorry."

He looked down at the pad that he had been working on, and drew his head back a little to get a better look in the dodgy light. The drawing was actually of three floors, if you counted the loft. The loft still had what he considered Peter's space, but space was taken from over the storage space, bathroom and the hollow behind the wall. Stiles had designed a room for Derek.

He had a queen sized bed, with a nightstand and lamp. A comfortable chair was by the window with a tea table and another lamp. He had also put a wall sized book shelf. For books and knick knacks and a walk in closet. He had drawn improvements to the bathroom on this level putting in recommendations, including an actual bathtub.

The storage area and the empty space had been turned into a galley kitchen, but there was still an empty space behind the wall and it was too big to just contain the pipes and so forth. There would be a comfortable couch under the edge of the loft with bookshelves on either side to contain the books they used for research. Some were from the Argents, some were what Stiles had collected, and some were able to be salvaged from the Hale collection. He also made a note to put a WiFi connection in that area.

A training area was set up where Cora had once slept. And into the area where Derek presently slept but there was also going to be a large safe. The area that had once been their planning area was made a little more functional with backed stools. He put a note on the pad to start collecting more detailed maps of the area.

The lower level which was actually larger because of the catwalk that connected other parts of the facility. Stiles designed separate areas for the females, males, and couples in the pack. Then he had apparently kept making more rooms. "A pack must grow to survive. A lone wolf will not survive."

The words kept echoing in his head, and Stiles turned with his head leaning against the wall and finished adding a communal area just below this apartment with his and her baths, a full on kitchen that would satisfy even his master chef soul. An entertainment system, with comfortable couches and furniture that would keep a pack of teenagers happy. As well as notes for sound proofing that would keep a pack of wolves from ripping each others throats out hopefully.

When he was done he whispered, "Thanks for listening," before reaching for the cell phone he had tucked in his pocket. He hit speed dial #1 on his cell phone and waited for the three rings before his dad's voicemail came on, "Dad, it's me, wanted you to know I can talk now. I also wanted to know if you were able to get hold of anyone to collect either Malia or Danny's…remains or their relatives? I'm ok although Mary says I can't really travel just yet. So I thought if you wanted I might see if we can order some takeout and eat here."

Suddenly he heard someone coming up in the elevator and said, "Anyway call me back and let me know something. Oh I am still at the loft by the way, in case you couldn't figure that out, anyway call me back. Dad, I love you." he said thoughtfully before closing the phone and heading back into the main area of the

loft

He glanced down at his phone only to discover it was really too early for Mary and the architect to return. Then the door to the loft is slammed open again with what Stiles could only call a whine of protest for the abuse it was suffering in one day followed quickly by the redhead screeching at him, "Why didn't you call me?! Do you have any idea what you took on? A lamia, really? Why didn't she gobble you up?"

"Not its type, and there wasn't really time to call anyone. Then after that there was the whole coma and being mute thing. Kind of makes gossiping with my gal pal a little….low on my list of priorities, sorry. " Stiles sassed gently as the usually aloof Lydia wrapped her arms around him and tried to squeeze the stuffing out of him.

"Stiles, it was a lamia," Lydia said as she drew back and added, "Pretty much, anything breathing would have been its type."

"Parrish told you huh?" Stiles asked quietly.

"Well yeah, but you could have called me when you got your voice back." the titan haired teen said with a hint of aggravation in her tone.

"Sorry kind of had other things on my mind. Would you listen to me if I said you need to be more careful the next few weeks?" he added as he stared into her eyes seriously.

"Why?" she asked hoping for more detail.

"Just a feeling, the next couple of months, the full moons I think are going to be bad ones." he said as he gazed at the other teen thoughtfully.

"Even without Scott and the others being here?"

"Maybe because they're not here. Just be extra careful, please for me." Stiles begged pitifully. "Least till I get back up to speed."

"Stiles you never have been up to speed." the Banshee used her sharp tongue to tease him.

"Hey I resent that I was up to speed, sometimes, just not about everything." The pair laughed a little at that before Stiles said sadly, "Lyds did Parrish tell you about Malia, Braeden and Danny?"

"Yeah," she said on a slow breath. "I've been trying to get hold of Jackson or his family to let him know, about Danny. His parents said that…that Jackson disappeared several months ago. He and his dad got into a big fight. They said Jackson was being unreasonable.. They wouldn't tell me what the fight was about, but they don't know where he is." Although she hid it well Stiles easily recognized the fear in her tone and the concern for the former lacrosse player.

She met Stiles eyes and her eyes were saddened and horrified as she said, "Stiles he's a lone wolf what if its not because of the fight that he disappeared?"

"No I refuse to believe that, Jackson is too arrogant to be dead. Heaven would be afraid he'd seduce the angels and hell would be afraid he would take over." Lydia gave him a look before she snorted in laughter.

Stiles gave a small smile of relief as he had succeeded in taking her mind off of Jackson's disappearance before saying thoughtfully, "Do you still have that key?"

"What you mean the one to his house?" At Stiles nod she said curiously, "Sure."

Stiles replied, "Can I borrow it?"

"Why?" asked in a confused tone.

"Just a little experiment. Can you bring it by my house in a coupe of days? I should be recovered enough to go home by then." the brunette said seriously.

"Sure, how's day after tomorrow?" Lydia offered helpfully

"That'll be great." Stiles said gratefully. They talk a little longer and as she gets ready to leave he asks, "Hey Lydia, what's a reaper?"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N~ So not much magic here but a lot of re-establishing relationships and friendships here. Stiles is still recovering after all. Please enjoy but don't forget to read, enjoy and review. Please, please, please, puppy dog eyes. ~A**

**Chapter 14**

He knew it was going to be bad when Lydia actually tottered on her three inch Jimmy Choo's. He lurched forward and caught her arm gently. Leading her over to the couch under the stairs, one of Peters contributions to the loft. He had to admit Creeper Wolf had good taste and an excellent eye for comfort.

"Come on," her ordered gently, "Sit down. Now tell me, everything you know about the Reaper."

She slipped her shoes off and gracefully lifted her feet up beside her on the cushion, leaning herself against the back of the couch. The pairs fingers entwined as they both reached for the other along the back of the couch. Stiles sitting a short distance from her, still giving her space to get over her shock at the question.

"The Reaper, is or will eventually be me. If I don't get myself dead before then." she said with a haunted expression on her face, "Reapers are…well you know how you said Derek 'evolved' into the wolf form of an Alpha?"

"Yeah, well his word, but yeah," the boy said and there was the flash of something in his eyes that had Lydia decide to ask him about what was going on with he and Derek later.

"Basically a Reaper is what a Banshee evolves into if they don't go crazy or die. Reapers are still mostly human, but they become like…oh crap what do you call them. Valkyries."

"The ones that choose the best warriors for Valhalla, seriously. Ragnarok, Odin and everything."

"Not sure about what the rest of that means but as for the Valkaries sort of. Basically, Reapers retrieve the dead and choose where they go. If they're good they go to heaven If they still need work, they can choose to send them to Purgatory, Hell, a certain section of Hell if they need special punishment for their crimes. Of course, if they have certain beliefs they can go to their own versions of hell, or be reincarnated, or even in extreme cases back to life. But that rarely happens." she said pursing her lips.

"So they're kind of a combination of Death and a Grim Reaper?" Stiles said with more excitement and enthusiasm than Lydia thought was appropriate if her expression was anything to go by.

She did nod her head as she said, "Yeah, but like Banshees, Reapers are getting rarer and harder to find." She looked around the surprisingly neat looking space and said, "You haven't been researching so where did you come up with Reapers, Stiles?"

The other teen shifted his eyes away from his former crushes too sharp gaze as he said with futile casualness, "Oh no where, really."

Only to feel the bite of her nails digging into his hand where there fingers were joined. "Don't lie to me, Stiles." the redhead said sharply.

"Ow, ow, okay," Stiles said trying unsuccessfully to wrest his fingers from Lydia's kung fu grip. When she got the response she wanted she released the fingers which Stiles began to nurse gently. Giving the Banshee a slightly wounded expression Stiles said, "So I may be having these dreams, visions, warning things. Like I said something bad is coming and I was warned to keep the Reaper safe by my subconscious, I warned you."

"A little strange, but sweet. Considering we've dealt, with werewolves, kanimas, rogue Alphas, a whole pack of Alphas, a crazy Druid witch, being on a giant hit list. Let's really not get into the Nogitsune. Kitsunes, Berserkers, and everything else that goes bump in the night. I think I'll take the warning in earnest. One thing what's coming after me?"

Stiles looked a little non-plussed before pulling himself defensively into the far corner of the couch and said, "If I say I'm not sure are you going to use your Queen Fu grip on me again?"

The titian haired teen, gaped at the reference and then burst out laughing. Apparently if the length of the laughing fit was any indication, she really needed to laugh a little more. By the end she was gasping and sobbing for breath. Stiles was just smiling benignly, secure in the knowledge, that for the time being at least he might be safe from the Banshees wrath.

"We are so patenting that phrase." Lydia said affectionately. "Why do you know that something is coming after the Reaper and that I'm the Reaper but not what it is that's coming after me?"

Stiles shrugged his shoulders in confusion as he responded, "I didn't see it. But whatever it is it is more dead than alive which is probably why its after you."

"You gonna tell the others?" Lydia asked thoughtfully.

"What others Lydia?" Stiles said with a mix of hurt, frustration and anger in his voice. "As far as I can tell supernaturals are a little sparse at the moment. There's you, me, Jordan, Derek, and Mary…that's it. Not counting Peter since he's pretty much locked up until further notice."

Venting the dark haired teen stood and began pacing, his ADHD, kicking in and propelling him into motion, "The lamia just took out Malia, Braeden and Danny. Even if he wasn't supernatural, he was our resident hacker. Everyone else has either moved out, moved on, died or is incommunicado. Not to be too depressing about the shit but you know we are pretty much small potatoes that any Tom, Dick or hairy assed monster could take out with one paw tied behind their back."

"Geez, this Pack is useless. Scott is a great guy but a lousy Alpha and Derek was only better because at least he tried to train the Pack to be ready for what was coming. But how can he prepare them when Scott was always undermining him. Then Scott refuses to bite anyone else which is fine…I get it. How can you protect your territory though, if you're a few hundred miles away and incommunicado for months on end," Stiles snorted in angry amusement, "Which they've both been on multiple occasions, hell at this point I'd say we'd do better if I were the Alpha and we both know how ridiculous that is even to think about."

They stopped talking for a couple of minutes both caught up in their own thoughts, when Stiles asked out of the blue, "Could you do me a couple of favors since I apparently am going to be stuck here for another day or two?"

Lydia looked at him a little suspiciously before saying, "Sure, what'd you have in mind?"

"I need you to go online and go to the library and find anything you can on mining and shoring up cave walls and expanding caves. Preferably without explosives as well as how to build an old fashioned root cellar. I'd do it myself but there's no Wi-Fi here and my Wi-card got broken in the last attack of the monster du jour before Scott and the others left."

Lydia quickly fished her phone out of her purse and typed the information into the device before saying, "Anything else?"

Stiles sat down beside her on the couch, his eyes far away as he thought, "Yeah see what's involved in claiming unclaimed bodies when you're not a family member, lawyer or…what's the thing where you're in charge of the will, estate whatever?"

"Beneficiary?" Lydia asked her brow furrowed.

"No that's the recipient." said Stiles getting a little frustrated.

"Well you are receiving the body," Lydia supplied a little waspishly, in answer to his frustration. "Oh wait, its an executor. Wait you want to claim their bodies, Danny, Malia and them?"

"They are Pack, they should be taken care of by Pack. Not left in some sterile, frozen, drawer somewhere or in a pine box, in some paupers field. Even if we only bury them the way Derek did Laura at least they'll be where they're loved and remembered." Stiles said eyes sad and a little tired.

Lydia added it to her list and moved forward and kissed Stiles on the forehead as she said, "I'll see what I can do. You are a good man, Stiles Stilinski. Don't let anyone tell you different. Get some rest."

She rose from the couch and walked to the door of the loft. When she got there she turned to look back and said, "And you would make a great Alpha."

When she left Stiles leaned back on the couch, letting his head fall back. He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, Derek, Mary and the architect, Mr. Sands were back and standing at the table.

Mr. Sands and Derek were actually studying his drawings. Stiles felt a flash of anger go through him. Obviously it showed as the architect looked up at him and stepped back quickly.

"What are you doing?" said Stiles trying to snatch the sketchpad back.

"These are very good Stiles," Derek said seriously, "Mr. Sands and I were just admiring them."

"Don't make fun of me Sourwolf," he said so only Derek could hear. Still trying to get the sketchpad. Unfortunately, he was a little stiff from sleeping on the couch. So his movements were a little limited and Derek was using his superior height to advantage.

"Not making fun Stiles, trust me. I know what I'm talking about." Derek said earnestly as he took the younger mans shoulder to steady him and so he could look in his eyes seriously."

Mr. Sands jumped in to agree, "Your friends not wrong Mr. Stiles…"

"Stilinski," all three of the other occupants in the room said as one."

"Sorry, Mr. Stilinski, you have a great deal of raw talent," he said as he fished in his inside jacket pocket and drew out a card. "If you would like to try an internship with us, please don't hesitate to call. My office also funds a full scholarship program at CalTech and Berkley. And another for engineering if that's more to your liking. If you were interested in pursuing a career in architecture I would definitely put you up for the scholarship. Let me know, I'll be around for the next few months at least."

He gathered up some papers and said, "Mr. Hale, Ms. Spenser I look forward to doing business with you."

"Did he just offer me a full scholarship?" Stiles gaped his face pale as he added, "for a doodle?"

"Obviously he didn't think it was just a doodle cub and yes, he did." Mary offered with a pride filled smile.

"It's _not_ just a doodle, neither was the other drawing you did of the Sister House." Derek said, before adding a little more quietly. "Look, I'm sorry, I overreacted to you not telling me about Hale House. I'm grateful for what you are doing at the house. I know you're mainly doing that for Scott and the others…"

"And you," Stiles said in a slightly defensive tone. The expression on Derek's face was stunned surprise, and Stiles actually felt like he had been kicked in the gut on behalf of the former Alpha.

"Really Derek," said the Spark, "You may have been a grouchy, grumpy Sourwolf of an Alpha, but your still a member of the Pack and always will be. Heck at this point I'm out of the Pack but I'm not even sure I was part of the Pack except on an as needed basis. If you ever need to feel Pack-like you can come to the Sister House. I know what it is for a wolf to feel abandoned by his Pack and I'm sorry if they, if we made you feel that way…"

"You never did," Derek replied as he took Stiles arm and turned the younger man to face him. "When I bit the others, you were never angry. You were actually grateful that I bit Isaac and Erica especially. And after Boyd explained about being lonely…."

"Of course I understood, Scott would to, he just had a really bad experience with Peter and…"

"And why are you here and he's not?" Derek said as he moved even closer to the brunette. "Where is your Pack Stiles?"

Stiles gaped at him blank faced for a minute before a pained expression flashed across his face, "My Pack is gone." Stiles replied on a slightly choked tone, not meeting the werewolves eyes as he said it. "I killed it, when I killed Allison and Aiden," he said as he tried to pull away from Derek's hold on his arm.

Only to find himself reeled towards Derek as the wolf said, "I caused Erica and Boyd's death," said the former Alpha. "Do you blame me for them?"

"W-What n-no." said the Spark as he finally looked at the older man in confusion wondering how they had gotten from an argument over Hale House to this point. He looked over for Mary hoping for some help from his mentor only to discover her no longer in the loft. Then a little something kick started in his head and he added, "That was Deucalion and his Alpha Pack, not you."

Then the teen slapped Derek in his chest and added, "And while we're on the subject of your self-inflicted but totally undeserved guilt fest. Kate and her hunter/arsonist pals including my former science teacher are responsible for burning down Hale House in the first place…not you. Kate is the sick, psychopathic pedophile who seduced you, tricked you and destroyed your family and your home. It wasn't your fault, Derek, you were tricked."

"Just like you, the Nogitsune tricked you Stiles. You were trying to protect the people you loved and, the fox spirit tricked you. Why when you can see how I was tricked, you can't see the same for yourself?" Derek pulled the younger man closer holding him in place against his chest as he argued his point.

"But I liked it…I liked it Derek. For once I liked being the strong one, the one who had the power…I liked it. I liked manipulating people, I liked throwing you against the wall for a change…." He looked up at the werewolf and even though there were tears in his eyes, the pair suddenly burst out laughing.

"Not like I didn't deserve it after how many times?" Derek said shaking his head.

"Lost count," Stiles agreed on a sob, as tears trailed down his cheeks, a mix of sorrow and mirth in their scent. Without thinking the teen leaned his head forward on to Derek's shoulder.

"I've failed this pack and you as an Alpha, as a leader and as a friend." The older man caressed the back of Stiles neck absently.

"If you say, it's your fault again, I'll beat the crap out of you, after I've recovered." the human replied without heat.

"Brilliant strategy there, telling me what you plan to do to me before you do it." said the werewolf on a huff of laughter.

The human gave the werewolf a playful shove, separating them as he said, "Course it's my method of lulling you into a false sense of security, then when you least expect it, I pounce."

Derek laughed saying, "Wolves don't pounce."

"Yeah well, never actually said I was a wolf." Then something the werewolf had said had Stiles looking at Derek strangely as he asked, "Wait did you just say we were friends?"

Looking at the human in shock and then disappointment Derek replied, "I really have screwed up haven't I?" When the teen tried to step back farther, Derek held him in place with a gentle but firm grip to his neck. "Please listen," he pleaded. It was the tone as much as the word please that held Stiles in place but he did raise his head to look the other man in the eye.

"I was trying to keep you at a distance. I thought McCall was weak for having you as a friend. A pack of friends, a family. My Mother and Peter never really explained or understood the importance of having friends to us, to me. You didn't either, you just were. You are my friend Stiles, I need you as my friend. You are teaching me how to be a better man. You were teaching me to be a better Alpha. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm…I need you to help me work on it. I'm sorry I haven't said it before, but I am your friend, yes and I'd like you to do me the honor of being my friend, please?"

Derek swore he saw a sheen of tears in the teenagers eyes as Stiles said a little cheekily, "Geez Derek I thought there would be a Twilight or Star Trek quote in there somewhere." Derek's face fell a little as he thought Stiles was taking his offer as a joke.

Taking the older mans shoulders in his hands Stiles replied more seriously, "I've thought we were friends almost since the beginning I just never believed you wanted me as a friend, Scott yeah sure but me…why would you want me? So yeah we're already friends, man. You and me.. we're good." he said with a quirky smile


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N~ Not a geologist or meteorologist so any errors in later parts of this chapter are purely my own. Also not into real estate so much so price points were done using real estate sites in the region I imagine is close to where Beacon Hills would be. Hope everyone is continuing to enjoy the story. Keep reviewing please. Love you guys. ~A**

**Chapter 15**

**A couple of days later: **

Stiles was grateful to Mary for taking care of the legal wrangling over the bodies of his friends. The family of Danny's ex had claimed his body but none of them had apparently even known who Danny was which in a way kind of relieved Stiles but also kind of pissed him off on Danny's behalf. Finding Danny's family or Malia's adoptive father had proven futile. The Sheriff was more than half convinced the lamia had killed Danny's family and Mary felt the same.

Malia's stepfather was another matter, Deputy Parrish had come to Stiles to inform him that apparently Malia had arranged to be legally emancipated from her adoptive father. The man had apparently packed up and left town soon after that.

He and Derek had spoken and had agreed that her remains were to be buried near the Hale House. Before Derek had managed to collect the body Stiles had collected a lock of Malia's hair which he had enclosed in a sealed envelope. He wasn't the sentimental type usually but some instinct had him sneaking in and doing this.

Stiles was finally fully recovered from the lamia attack, at least in his opinion. Mary still wanted him not to practice magic for a while. She had him running errands, currently he was looking for an apartment for the other woman. Building the Sister House was going to take several months and while the RV was actually a very good alternative, clean and comfortable, it was still an RV.

She had been fine with an apartment as long as it was conveniently placed, as she still preferred to walk most places when possible. Although she would personally have preferred a rental home that was a little more isolated, Beacon Hills was still a relatively small town, listings were limited. The price limit she had placed was 2000 a month. She had told him that anymore than that and it would be more reasonable for her to buy a home.

Stiles had agreed with Mary on the point but looking at homes and apartments some of which were so disturbing he didn't even bother walking past the living room. Then there were the ones that looked like Mary's grandmother would have been comfortable in the building. He liked buildings with character but the ones that basically hadn't been modernized at all were something that were useless to them both. He finally found a place near the school and the center of town. The layout of the place itself was open and yet surrounded by woods and gardens.

When he paid the man in cash, the realtor had looked at him suspiciously and said, "Aren't you the Sheriff's son?" Stiles had nodded his head as he continued to fill out the paperwork for a 6 month lease. "You doing this for your dad, some kind of sting operation or something?"

"No sir not a sting operation or anything to do with my dad, just doing my job. Is this everything?" he said handing the man the paperwork back to check. The man had looked it over and nodded his head and would have started asking even more questions but the teen had only waited long enough for the man to hand him his copy of the paperwork and the keys to the house, before he left. There were times when he really got tired of the gossipy nature of the people of Beacon Hills.

They could ignore werewolves, mass murders, things that go bump in the night, but where there wasn't anything they would make things up. Where the sheriffs son was doing a simple thing like renting or leasing a house for his boss, they saw a sting operation. A drug dealing disgrace of a son for the sheriff, or a totally inappropriate relationship with an older woman in a love shack.

Stiles felt the frustrated tingle of magic travel up and down his arms as his free foot tapping on the floor mat of the Jeep. His nerves and agitation were making him want to do something and that need was feeding the spark. Making it want to act out. He had learned enough control in the past several days to not do that though.

Then Stiles knew what he wanted to do, he was already near the school and the woods. He pulled into the lacrosse field parking area. He was actually surprised to see a couple of strange cars also parked in the lot. He thought he saw some runners over on the running track, but ignored them.

He climbed into the back of his Jeep to change into his running clothes and trainers. When he climbed back out of the confined space he was wearing his gym shorts and t-shirt with the sleeves cut out. He began warming up carefully, he pretended that he wasn't into maintaining his physical fitness. Coach often harassed him about being fat and useless.

The truth was there was a reason the others teased him about being the boy who ran with wolves. The funny thing was while it was meant to be a joke, he really could for the most part keep up with the rest of the pack. When they were doing their Super Wolf running then he had to use his knowledge of the surrounding terrain to take shortcuts.

Right now though he was on his own so he could keep the pace he wanted. Right now he wanted to stretch himself, he wasn't going to go far from the parking lot, he wasn't stupid. He knew he was pushing it as it was, being recently recovered from a near burnout of his Spark. The magic took at least a small part from his physical well-being, Mary would kill him if he overdid it. He just wanted to run out some of his aggravation.

Surprisingly he and Derek had managed to work out a lot of their issues in the past couple of days. Stiles ruminated as he warmed up a little more glancing around before walking into the edge of the woods. He found one of the packs usual running paths and turned and began to jog along the path before working up to a faster speed. The pounding of his feet hitting the packed earth of the forest floor was a match to the even rhythm of his heart.

A perfect backdrop for his thoughts as he considered how annoying it was that the people of this town could so easily dismiss the deaths and disappearances of some of its young. They ran away, committed suicide, got into things they shouldn't have, who knew? The town didn't seem to care so much.

Some of the teens in question were trying to save the town from supernatural threats, and got burned out or murdered because of it. They were warriors and heroes but they were vilified as drug abusing runaways who ended up dead or disappeared and then just became fodder for the local gossip mills. With a growl Stiles picked up the pace again as he bounded over a fallen log.

He missed his friends, his Pack and he wanted them back, but he missed the ones who were gone even more. Danny, Allison, Erica and Boyd, and yes even Aiden. He also missed the irritating Jackson, sweet Issac, and surprisingly gentle Ethan. He still felt the slight burn of anger towards Scott and his pack…the thought had the Spark stumble to a stop next to a small stand of maples.

Scott's pack, were the ones who had gone with him to the camp. The ones who were dead had of course lost any connection to any pack. The ones who were missing for the most part had a stronger connection to Derek's pack. The thought had a plan come to life half-formed in his mind. Pushing off from one of the trees, Stiles continued his run through the woods.

His body moving automatically through the trees, while his mind worked out more of the plan as he ran. He didn't even know if what he had in mind was possible or if Mary would even be willing to let him try it. Maybe if he made her understand it wasn't negotiable. That would be pushing it but once he set his mind to the plan, he was set on the course he had in mind.

He realized he was flying through the woods leaping long legged over fallen trees and berms easily. Then he realized he was no longer alone. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he stumbled to a stop with a shout, "Geez Derek are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

The beta ran a few yards further before walking back and saying helpfully, "No trying to stop you from having one. Do you have any idea how fast you were running or how far you've come?"

"No, why are you keeping track?"

"Yeah, kinda. Considering you were more dead than alive just a few days ago." Derek said with a huff of breath.

"So were you Sourwolf." Stiles said as he leaned over bracing himself on his knees as he caught his breath.

The older man ignored that as he repeated, "Do you know how fast you were going?"

"You sound just like one of my dad's deputies. Hey if you're still having money issues because of Peters mental blather, that actually might be something to consider. What did you go to college for anyway?" Stiles said trying to distract Derek. The former Alpha only crossed his arms and stared at the younger man.

"Fine, no I do not know how far or how fast I was running. I don't really keep track of that sort of thing. Why?"

The werewolf took his arm and led him into a nearby clearing only to find the Nemeton. Stiles checked his watch to find he had run seven miles in less than fifteen minutes. He knew the speed probably had something to do with his Spark but he didn't feel as if he had used any magic. "Interesting." he said more to himself than to Derek.

"So are you following me or are you just out here and got lucky and found me?" Stiles asked and began stretching to cool down as he felt muscles start tensing up.

Derek scratched the back of his neck and Stiles noticed how incredibly tired the former Alpha looked. As though once again the weight of the world was on his shoulders, when he finally answered the older man looked a little bemused as he replied, "A little of both actually."

"You know you are the only person I know who most of the time looks as though he's carrying around more guilt than a prison full of cons." the teen said shaking his head seriously.

Derek's eyes flashed up to meet the other mans and he said with equal seriousness, "Don't you think I deserve to feel guilty?"

"No, not like this, Derek." Stiles responded with a touch of heat to his tone. "A psycho bigot with a serious case of pedophilia thrown in, used a fifteen year old to gain information so she could murder a houseful of people. Your sister got killed by your uncle who had a psychotic break after being in a coma for several years." The teen had started pacing, the only positive about the recent run was that he seemed a great deal calmer than normal.

"The only positive about that time was Peter killed the pedophile bigot. The Pack then killing the Creepy Uncle was another positive if only for the pack bonding purposes." he said, "After all of the good we've done I'd say your karmic scales should be leveled out if not in the positives by now. Seriously, we've talked about this."

The werewolf merely gazed at the teen for a few minutes with his face in its default position of serious thoughts mode. Stiles shook his head and continued.

The teen's guileless expression remained as he said, "Can you tell me about your family, I only know Cora and she's like a younger female you with some of your Uncle's manipulative nature."

Derek's brows shot together in a scowl as he looked at the younger man for a vindictive nature to the query but saw only blatant curiosity, "My mother Talia was the best Alpha I have ever met." he said succinctly.

"Yeah that doesn't help at all, Derek. For all I know you could be extremely biased," Stiles said with a roll of his eyes as he added, "Which parent do you look like? Did she read to you? Bake cookies with you? Was she the teacher for you guys in all things werewolf or was that your dad? Those are the things I want to know."

Derek looked at Stiles strangely but also wistfully as he said, "Both of my parents were our teachers. My mom taught us how to control the change and those sorts of things. Our father taught us the history and how better to blend in with the humans. Peter taught us about other species and such. My dad was actually a history teacher at Berkley. That's how he and my mother met. My mom was a law student who was having some trouble getting her history grade up to snuff. Her history professor recommended his TA as a tutor. His TA was my father and a human."

"My grandfather was kind of anti-human to hear my parents tell the story, my grandmother was a lot more tolerant. Apparently while mom and dad were going to school and dating secretly, my grandmother was browbeating my grandfather into submission about the whole human issue. My parents got engaged before they graduated from Berkley. My grandfather gave his permission for the marriage with the condition that they both had to wait for five years, to live and have a career, before they settle down and have a family."

"So they dated for five years kind of long distance cause Dad was at Berkley and Mom went to LA. Laura was the oldest and she was in school for business when the fire happened and I was studying architecture and drafting. Peter's wife was another werewolf from another clan, she was a surgical nurse, and Peter is a surgeon…" Derek said absently.

"Wait hold up," Stiles flailed his hand for a moment, "Peter Hale, your psycho-Creeper uncle is a doctor?"

The werewolf smirked slightly and said with slight amusement, "Yeah he was and still is, one of the best in the Western United States. Although after being in Eichen House that might change."

"Oh, I don't know about that I've heard of the…Medical Board? Yeah they let people go back to work in the medical field after being caught doing drugs. After they complete a drug rehab program. So depending on Peters spin he could tell them the stress of being in the fire that killed his family and then in a coma for several years and awakening to find things so very different for him. They'll probably totally let him go back to medical practice if he ever does get out of course." Stiles said absently.

"You're a lot more forgiving of Peter than I thought you might be Stiles," Derek said giving the younger man a strange look.

"Yeah well I have a confession. I've been visiting him occasionally with Malia. We went to visit him about once a week since he was put in Eichen. She was wanting information I guess on her mom and trying to figure out more about her dad, but she had bad memories of that place so she wanted some company." Stiles sighed as he ran his fingers nervously through his hair and said, "Truth is we both do…did I guess. But I couldn't let her go by herself." he said with a shrug.

Derek continued to talk to Stiles about the people, the family he had lost in the fire as they made their way back to the school at a much slower pace than Stiles had traveled to get to the Nemeton. He concluded "…and then there was Ms. Mildred. She was the oldest I think and the local librarian. Not really sure how she got into the Pack. I have a feeling that she was a life long friend with my grandmother actually. At some point Gran probably told her about werewolves and the other things that went bump in the night and she just got folded into the family."

When they got back to the parked Jeep, Stiles glanced at the watch and goggled, "Oh man is that the time? I was supposed to meet Lydia at my place. She was supposed to be bringing over some maps and research for me. That was twenty minutes ago." The teen starts to hustle to his Jeep and then turning to walk backwards tells the werewolf, "She's going to kill me. Call me tomorrow or I'll call you." he waved spastically before jumping into the Jeep and headed back home at the top legal speed.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Sure enough Lydia was standing outside of her car, leaning against a towel against the side of her car wearing a cover up and short denim sorts over a swimsuit. She was also wearing a sunhat and what Stiles was sure was considered the sexiest and sportiest of sunglasses.

"Sorry, sorry Lyds trying to find out as much information as I can before I try a very complicated spell. Not even sure I can do it but I'm willing to try. No I kind of have to try…"

Stiles probably would have continued with his babbling if Lydia hadn't held her palm up to the other teen and said, "Stiles, enough of the word vomit. I accept your apology. Just don't let it happen again. And here's the key, you're not going to make it disintegrate or something are you?"

"No Lydia I'm not. It's gonna be perfectly fine." Stiles said as he took the key on the chain from her reverently.

"Good cause it has a certain sentimental value you know." Lydia said a little huskiness slipping into her usually sweet tones. Stiles nodded as he closed his fist around the key. Lydia gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and started to turn away before she seemed to remember something.

"By the way, I'm having a make-up party for Jordan. You and Derek are invited, oh and your dad too. I'll text you a save-the-date later. Tell your dad he is still expected to stop by even if he has to work and no gifts necessary. Yes, there will be cake and stuff and yes your dad can have some despite your dietary restrictions. It's a celebration, he needs to live a little." With that she walked away to get into her little sports car and with a little toot on her horn at the other teen she drove away.

Stiles took the large shopping bag of maps and research material upstairs, dumping it out on his bed. He then searches for something in the top of his closet. Finally pulling out his treasure chest, an item his mother gave him ages ago. He carefully pulled the contents out of it. A jar of beach sand, pebbles, and a few shells, a set of mouse ears with his name on the back, his real name, a packet of post cards and photos, an envelope with a lock of his mothers hair, and a gold locket with a garnet shaped like a heart on the front with a picture of his parents and him when he was six.

Leaving the locket in place he added Malia's leather bracelet, the key from Jackson, and a scrap of t-shirt with Catwoman on it. The last time he had asked his dad about the investigation into locating Braeden. He said they hadn't yet been able to find Braeden's body, or any other victims and hoped there weren't anymore. Stiles wasn't so sure but kept his own council on the subject.

Locking the small chest Stiles slipped it under the desk and walked over to the bed. Rifling through the maps he gathered them up and put them back in the shopping bag for the time being and quickly picking up the three books that remained, began reading them. Mining seemed a fairly straightforward business and since he had no intention of using explosives, his method should be a lot safer, hopefully.

He drove back out to the woods and tracked back along to where the former coyotes den was located. First he carefully crawled into the cave and using a small spell was able to discern which was Aiden's blood and which was Ethan's. Using some small jars he collected as much of the dirty tainted blood as he could and put E on one and A on the other. He would use another spell to get out the contaminates, especially the wolvesbane later.

Following Mary's instructions on performing spells in a natural environment Stiles went around the area talking to the trees and plants. "I wish to ask for your cooperation, understanding, and assistance." Stiles began to explain, "I need to create a safe place for my pack so that we can continue to protect this our home. I need to enlarge the cave without endangering them or you. Can you help me to enlarge and reinforce the cave in a way that would be secure against collapse."

When Stiles was done he hadn't really expected much perhaps an image to appear in his head like it had when he was trying to communicate his wishes to the loft. Instead he heard cracking, creaking and groaning. There was a discernible movement in the trees around him, more specifically around the cave. Then a very old and twisted tree near him reached out a branch and gently caressed his arm before wrapping around the arm and up to his face.

Stiles saw in his head a warren of caves suddenly open up with roots spread into the cave to move rocks and other debris out of the way. The roots spread and widened until the dirt and rock roof was covered in the roots. The sides had thicker roots more regularly spaced but the roof was weaving itself even as he watched. Then an image of the Nemeton appeared, fully grown. Stiles got the message loud and clear, even as the trees images to him returned to what he saw as the Den.

Stiles watched as shrubs and vines moved to cover and conceal the entrance to the cave. Stiles could feel how difficult it was for the plants and trees to do this at this time of the year, things were dry. Closing his eyes he muttered a few words, and clouds moved in as the plants continued to move and groan. Then a gentle but steady rain began to fall, with thunder accompanying the rain, because of the sudden change in barometric pressure he caused with this relatively simple spell.

The tree that was holding his arm gently ran its branches through his hair and then he felt a bit of a sting as several twigs suddenly pushed into his skin. Then with a shock he felt energy run through him as he saw the stems piercing his skin pulse like veins. He started to pull away but the old tree held him fast and caressed his hair gently again.

When the trees were finally finished for the evening, they simply settled and Stiles swore he heard a sigh coming from around him as the old tree released his arm almost reluctantly. He felt rather than heard an aching loneliness as he was released, and said, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Probably with more things to do if you don't mind." He felt an amazing sense of contentment after he spoke and smiled as he made his way back to the Jeep.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Stiles took the long way around as he made his way home. Making sure to check on Kira and Liam's families as he did so, and visited with Mama McCall. He checked on her, did a few things including "magically" patch a small leak in the roof. He visited Scott's room and found a scarf that belonged to Issac. He remembered it well, he had actually teased the other teen about it.

Then he saw something in the corner, tacked to Scott's bulletin board was Allison's silver necklace without thinking about it the Spark grabbed both items and stuffed them in his pockets. After taking the garbage out for Ms. McCall, the young man gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her to get some rest before continuing on his way home.

As he got out of his Jeep he received a text from his father,

_To Stiles,_

_Deputy Samuels called in, her son had an asthma attack. A bad one is in the hospital now. Came home to grab a bite earlier. Took her shift so won't be home till in the morning. Don't worry, Parrish is working this shift too. In case of the supe. Get some rest son._

_Love, Dad._

Stiles read the text and shot back one of his own.

_To Daddio,_

_From Stiles,_

_Tell Peg hope her son feels better. Will bring you some breakfast in the morning. Think Parrish will want some too?_

_The awesome son,_

_Stiles_

The teen unlocked the door and quickly walked into the house before turning and shutting and locking the door behind him. He piled his things on the dining room table, and then went upstairs to get the maps Lydia had given him, the crystal he had used for scrying and his phone charger.

Plugging his phone in quickly, Stiles went into the fridge and made himself a quick dinner of crab salad and angel hair pasta. He put the crab salad together and while waiting for the pasta to boil began planning what he would do next. Then he ran upstairs for the treasure box and brought it back downstairs carefully. After he had eaten Stiles looked at his phone as he finished off the glass of water he was drinking to find his father had answered his text.

_To Stiles,_

_From Dad,_

_Jordan says he's fine which means he'll grab something from the machine. The boy needs a keeper. Yes, please make enough for all three of us _

_Love, to the awesome son,_

_Dad_

Stiles snorted before putting the phone back down on the table after cleaning up the kitchen Stiles looked down and began to plan. First he scryed for Jackson, in the U.S and then using more detailed maps. Managed to get it down to a town in Wisconsin just off of Lake Superior. Trying to find an even smaller map he finally used a magnifying glass to find the town was called Starling. Stiles was stoked until he tried using information to find a Jackson Whittlemore. Only to find there was no such person listed.

Stiles growled in frustration and was about to throw his phone when he remembered his mothers favorite show again and a certain episode where one of the witches used a computer for scrying purposes, "Why not a phone?"

Letting instincts take over Stiles held the key and crystal together in one hand. Then taking the phone off the charger and holding it in the other one, Stiles said, "I want to call him, I need to call him." Stiles heard the tones as numbers were appearing on the face of his phone. He pressed the green phone symbol and put the phone to his ear.

"Harper," a voice said harshly. Stiles heard the sounds of a loud and busy club playing in the background.

"I said this is Harper. Hello is anyone there?" and the annoyed tones were all too familiar.

"It's Stiles." the teen said firmly. Knowing what was coming next he said, "Don't lie Jackson. Your voice has haunted my nightmares since the seventh grade, when you decided we weren't good enough to be your friends anymore. You need to come home. Danny is dead. He was murdered by one of the things that goes bump."

He paused waiting for the other teen to say something, either confirm or deny. When nothing was said Stiles continued grateful he was at least still on the line if the racket in the background was any indication. " His family…we don't know

where they are, I'm making arrangements for his funeral. I think he would want someone here who was closer than.. than me." he said and he choked on a sob as his throat threatened to close.

There was still silence and Stiles said a little anger creeping into his voice, "Look I don't know what's going on with you? Why you're hiding from your folks or anything and frankly I don't need to know right now. I want you to come home Jax. For Danny, for the people who cared about you even when you were being a douche."

He could hear what sounded like gasping noises on the other side of the phone and said in a gentler tone, "Do you hear me Jax?"

A half-sobbed, "Yes," came through the line and Stiles barely suppressed a sigh of relief.

"Will you come home?" the Spark asked the other teen.

"I can't, I don't.." the boys voice became garbled.

"Give me fifteen minutes and I'll call you back," Stiles said, "In the meantime, are you partying or at your job?" There was no judgment in his tone, merely firm support.

"One of my jobs," the older teen said. "Stiles I can't afford a ticket."

"Tell them you need a leave of absence for a death in the family, its not a lie is it? Give me a few like I said and I'll have a ticket waiting for you. Do you have money for a cab ride home?"

"Stiles I don't need a cab, I'm…" began the man once known as Jackson Whittlemore.

"Bullshit!" Stiles said harshly, "I just told you something killed your best friend of eight years and that you need to come home for his funeral. You will not be walking or driving yourself home. Now do you have money for a cab?" he asked again while heading upstairs to reach into the drawer of the night stand and pull out a wad of cash, part of his hiring bonus.

A sigh from the other side of the phone line before a reluctant, "No."

An equally frustrated, "Get somewhere safe and alone." He said as he made his way down the stairs rummaging through the drawers in the kitchen and finding a rubber band wrapped it around half the bills.

"Stiles.."

"_Now_ Jax," was the sharp retort.

"When did you become such a bad ass bossy butt, Stilinski?" the beta asked as he could be heard moving into a quieter section of the club. There was the clang of a metal door and then all that could be heard was the booming bass of the loud music.

"Are you alone, somewhere safe?" Stiles asked ignoring the other teens previous question.

"Yes, I'm alone and safe or as safe as you can be in this neighborhood," the other teen said.

Stiles tried not to think about what that could mean, or what Jackson had probably been through. "Hold out your hand Jackson. Do you have any outstanding bills? Do you have a way to get to the airport tomorrow?"

The teen answered more honestly than he probably would have in the past, which told Stiles what a truly dark situation Jackson was probably in right now.

"You need your Pack Jackson, now be quiet for a minute." Stiles heard Jackson huff a frustrated laugh but ignored it as he closed his eyes and blew on the stack of money in his hand.

He heard the squawk from Jackson, "What the…?" as he also heard the phone hit the pavement.

He winced slightly, but yelled nonetheless, "Jax?! You still there? Did you get it?"

A slightly breathless voice replied, "Stiles did you just…how did you do that?"

"Breathe Jackson and listen to me closely. Do you have anyone there you can't live without or who can't live without you for a while?" Stiles asked in a serious and mature voice that was frankly freaking the other teen out.

Jackson didn't answer for a minute and when he did it was with a reluctant sigh as he answered, "No, not right now."

"Get a cab, go home, pack what you can't live without, what's important to you. If you have one or two suits pack those. Summer weight. I'll call you in a bit with the flight information. Go on Jackson talk to your boss." Stiles said as he started to hang up to make phone calls.

"Stiles wait," Jackson called before the other could hang up and asked hesitantly, "The thing that killed Danny..is it, did it.."

"No Jax…Its nothing but ash. It can't hurt anybody else." he replied. When there was no response Stiles continued, "Come home Jax." and the other teen was left with a dial tone. Before he headed back into the nightclub to explain things to his boss, he had to wonder inanely how the plaid shirted Stiles knew what a summer weight suit was.

**~X~**

**A/N/N~ The next chapter is huge and may require more time because I've already been working on it for three weeks and am still not done. So probably expect a late post, and please, please, please review. ~A**


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